Banned brothers in business
Page 10
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• South-Eastern and Metropolitan Traffic Commissioner Brigadier Michael Turner has written to the Department of Transport expressing his concern about the continued activities of the de Rooy brothers.
Last May, Operators' Licences held by the brothers' UK division, Edcrest, were revoked by the South-East and North-West Traffic Commissioners.
Turner is concerned that Belgian and Dutch-registered de Rooy vehicles are still operating
in the UK. He points out that these vehicles continue to be picked up for breaching the regulations, both in this country and abroad.
Edcrest has a chequered history. It almost lost its South Eastern licence following a series of hours and tachograph convictions in 1993 and 1994. The licence was only renewed for 12 months after Brigadier Turner expressed continuing dissatisfaction over driver conduct.
A year later the company was again warned about breaches of the hours and tachograph rules (CM 3-9 Aug 1995). Both Traffic Areas also had continuing concerns about the company's maintenance standards.
Last April, Graad de Rooy told both Brigadier Turner and North Western Deputy TC Mark Hinchliffe that because of the loss of major contracts the British operation was closing down the following month (CM 10-16 April 1997).
The de Rooy organisation is based in the Netherlands. In December a British driver was fined for falsifying a tachograph chart and taking insufficient weekly rest whilst working for the de Rooy companies GM de Rooy and ZNN International Transport Belgie. He told Macclesfield magistrates that it was an unwritten rule that when working for de Reny you did as you were told (CM 1.7 Jan).