Licence revoked for wholesale incompetence' Operator: JW Skip Hire Matter:
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0-licence law Hearing: Birmingham Area: West Midlands Presiding TC: Nick Jones
WEST Midlands traffic commissioner (TC) Nick Jones has revoked the 0-licence of Walsall-based skip operator JVV Skip Hire as a result of its "wholesale incompetence".
Following a June public inquiry the TC also indefinitely disqualified its boss James Walker from working as a transport manager, ruling that he had lost his repute.
During the inquiry the TC heard how his company was using licence discs from another operator (Lynn Barber, trading as Barber International Transport & Skip) to run three extra vehicles. A Vosa examiner also reported that Walker had not carried out his transport manager duties for Ark Environmental Services. The TC said Walker's failings included: • poor quality of checking of driving licences — a traffic examiner easily identified the expiry of a driver's photo card; • inadequate and incompetent checks of drivers' tachographs; • apparently giving warnings to a driver who, on the transport manager's own analysis, had not committed an offence (the driver did commit offences but this was identified separately by the examiner); • not appreciating that it was the transport manager's responsibility to ensure that a driver complied with rest periods, asserting that it was purely a driver responsibility; • not understanding the correct use of the mode switch; • failure to address drivers using a vehicle with someone else's card;
• failure to understand the principle of discs not being transferable, and allowing the use of a disc from a sole trader licence to be utilised and run by a limited company.
The TC also ruled that Lynn Barber had lost her repute. Summing up
The TC said Walker's ignorance as to his responsibilities was "far reaching".