Chris Tindall - Commercial Motor

Chris Tindall

Chris Tindall started writing for the haulage and logistics industry in 2002 and quickly realised there was enough going on to keep him busy for a very long time. He’s covered a broad range of significant issues, including GPS jamming by criminals, platooning, Brexit and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the lack of safe and secure lorry parks and he helped secure the release of a lorry driver in a Polish jail due to misuse of the European Arrest Warrant.

Follow the author

Licence revoked for unsuitable residential operating centre

The traffic commissioner for the western traffic area revoked the licence of a food van operator after failing to inform his office it had lost the use of an operating centre

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

Haulage boss only focused on self-interest

A Harrow-based operator that “drove a horse and coaches” through the regulatory system has been disqualified for gross breaches of trust

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

Breaches of online service by Elstree haulier

A traffic commissioner has warned operators and transport managers they must never share their VOL self-service access login details, after hearing how a haulage firm violated the terms when it was sold

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

Fatal inquiry into death of lorry driver

A fatal accident inquiry (FAI) into the death of an HGV driver on the A74(M) in Scotland has been confirmed

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

Road traffic offences identified in police op

A lorry stopped by the police in Lancashire was found to be overweight, have no brakes at all on its rear axle and the driver was arrested after he failed a cannabis drug test.

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

Operator disqualified for presenting risk to all road users

A Carlisle operator and its director have been disqualified for seven years after demonstrating “appalling” non-compliance

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

Licence curtailed for compliance failings

The director of a Northamptonshire haulage firm was caught driving an HGV without an operator licence disc and without inserting a tachograph card, a public inquiry heard.

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

February 28, 2025

Transport manager gives ‘resignation’ undertaking

A deputy traffic commissioner has taken the unusual step of making a transport manager promise he will resign if a disqualified director plays any part in the business.

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

February 28, 2025

Revocation appeal succeeds after TC errors

A Halifax haulier has successfully appealed against the revocation of its licence after a tribunal ruled that the traffic commissioner had “erred in law”.

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

February 28, 2025

Recommendations over outrigger use made following fatality

A fatal accident inquiry into the death of a pedestrian struck by the extended outrigger leg of a lorry found the operator could have taken precautions against it.

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

February 21, 2025

Tribunal dismisses appeal by operator caring for family member

An operator said his ability to care for a family member who had been sectioned under the mental health act had been “severely impacted” by a traffic commissioner’s decision to revoke his licence.

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

February 21, 2025

Risk of serious injury at recycling firm

A waste recycling operator in Wales has been fined £100,000 for failing to protect workers and members of the public

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

February 19, 2025

Travis Perkins fined for lorry timber crush death

Travis Perkins has been fined £2m after timber fell off one of its lorries and onto a car in Sussex, killing the driver.

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

February 16, 2025

Drunk lorry driver gets 28-month ban

A drunk HGV driver caught swerving across the M40 while three times over the legal limit, has been banned from driving for two years and four months.

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

February 16, 2025

Speeding lorry ends operator’s involvement in industry

A Cheltenham operator caught speeding on the motorway in a truck with a defective speed limiter has had its licence revoked after a traffic commissioner said its director could not be trusted.

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

February 13, 2025

Jail for drunk lorry driver chased by police

A lorry driver was chased for four miles by armed police after he was spotted swerving along the carriageway – and then found to be nearly five times the legal alcohol limit.

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

February 7, 2025

Operator chose commercial activities over compliance

A Cornish scaffolding firm which said it was too busy to attend a DVSA new operator seminar has had its licence revoked for gross non-compliance.

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

February 7, 2025

Three-year disqualification for uncooperative director

A Slough operator failed to cooperate with the DVSA and the traffic commissioner’s office on eight separate occasions, in a case described as “entirely unacceptable”.

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

February 6, 2025

Transport Manager licence changes go digital

Any changes that need to be made to transport managers on an operator’s licence must be done online from the end of the month when the current TM1 form is withdrawn.

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

February 1, 2025

Police ‘speechless’ at dangerously drunk lorry driver

Police in Cambridgeshire said they were “lost for words” about why a lorry driver got behind the wheel of his artic after drinking and then drove down the A14 putting lives at risk.

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

January 31, 2025

Transport manager disqualified for acting in name only

An Okehampton operator that spent 15 years relying on a transport manager in name only has had its licence revoked

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

January 30, 2025

Seatbelt offences high among lorry drivers

Police in Wiltshire targeting law breakers on the road said HGV drivers were the most common offenders – and not wearing a seatbelt was the top offence

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

January 25, 2025

TC finds firm misused operator licence

A Dorset operator that requested a public inquiry after being told the traffic commissioner proposed to take away its licence and then failed to attend has now had it revoked.

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

January 24, 2025

Appeal against revocation while director was in jail dismissed

A tribunal has refused an appeal by a skip hire firm whose licence was revoked after failing to file its accounts on time - because its director was in prison for a GBH offence.

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

January 23, 2025

Lorry driver ran red light and killed church cleaner

An HGV driver has been jailed for three years and nine months after he failed to stop at a red light and killed a pedestrian

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

January 17, 2025

Firm fined following forklift accident

A logistics firm has been fined £30,000 after a member of staff was run over by a forklift truck while replacing a lightbulb in an HGV.

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

January 17, 2025

Three strikes and out for firm ‘deserving to be put out of business’

A haulage operator that appeared at three public inquiries in three years has now been disqualified after presiding over a culture where serious drivers’ hours offences were being committed.

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

January 16, 2025

Haulier carries out threat to tip waste

A licenced waste operator has been fined and ordered to pay costs of more than £3,000 after ‘revenge dumping’ waste when a company that owed it money entered administration

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

January 11, 2025

False plates used to avoid MSA parking payments

A Somerset operator displaying a false registration plate told the police it was used to avoid paying MSA parking charges for “disgusting and poor facilities”.

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

January 10, 2025

DVSA poacher turned gamekeeper disqualified as transport manager

A former DVSA officer who became transport manager at a Cornish haulage operation has been disqualified after a traffic commissioner found he had not exercised the most basic of control

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

January 9, 2025

Lorry strikes council worker after ignoring road closure signs

Cumberland Council has reaffirmed its zero tolerance towards reckless and abusive behaviour after an HGV driver ignored road closure signs and struck a highways worker.

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

January 4, 2025

Continued use of operating centre allowed despite objections

The traffic commissioner has agreed to an operator continuing to use a base which he acknowledged was “not ideal”, albeit with stricter conditions after complaints were raised.

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

January 3, 2025

Public safety put at risk by caravan haulier

A mobile home transport company has had its licence revoked and the director disqualified after the traffic commissioner said it had demonstrated “a degree of recklessness so extreme”.

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

January 2, 2025

“Wholly avoidable death” of worker in lorry-mounted crane incident

A construction and infrastructure firm has been fined £1.6m after a worker was crushed to death when a sling attached to a lorry-mounted crane snapped.

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

December 21, 2024

Licence cut after firm overlooked maintenance

Cumbrian firm ABC Scaffolding has had its licence curtailed to three HGVs from five after not having systems in place to manage basic maintenance.

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

December 20, 2024

PI hears operator never parked HGV at authorised base

A deputy traffic commissioner has revoked the licence of a Lancashire operator, as well as disqualifying the director, after finding that it had relied on an unauthorised operating centre ever since it was granted

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

December 19, 2024

Ticking off for trucker watching TikTok

A lorry driver on the M6 caught watching a video on his mobile phone and scrolling through TikTok is now being prosecuted by the police.

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

December 14, 2024

Skip operators in court for fine non-payments

Two waste haulage operators have been prosecuted by a Kent council after they failed to pay fines for unlicenced skips.

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

December 13, 2024

Food wholesaler stomachs licence curtailment

A restricted operator in Ealing only just escaped having its licence revoked after a deputy traffic commissioner heard how its director’s attention was distracted by his brother’s brain tumour.

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

December 12, 2024

Probe into waste-filled trailers left at roadside

The Environment Agency said it was investigating the dumping of trailers packed with shredded and baled waste in laybys on A roads in the Derby and Nottingham areas.

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

December 7, 2024

Digital tacho transition sparks monitoring failures

An operator that failed to monitor drivers’ hours for more than three years and undertook no tachograph analysis has had its licence curtailed for a week.

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

December 6, 2024

Operator’s assurances to TC ring hollow

The traffic commissioner for Wales has revoked the licence of a Milford Haven haulier after hearing how there were very few systems in place to prevent licence compliance failings.

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

December 5, 2024

Truck driver jailed after blowing more than three-and-a-half times over the limit

A truck driver has been sentenced to four months in prison after he struck a parked vehicle while drunk and then fell asleep at the wheel

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

December 3, 2024

Heidi Alexander replaces Haigh as transport secretary

Heidi Alexander has replaced Louise Haigh as the new transport secretary

News - Chris Tindall

November 29, 2024

Transport secretary quits after fraud offence revealed

Transport secretary Louise Haigh has quit after she admitted pleading guilty to a fraud offence

Industry News - Chris Tindall

November 29, 2024

Samworth Brothers fined more than £1m for workplace fatality

Samworth Brothers has been fined £1.28m after one of its employees was crushed to death by a reversing lorry at a Ginsters factory

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

November 29, 2024

‘Frivolous’ director disqualified indefinitely

A Leicester operator with “little or no idea of the rules” about running trucks has had its licence revoked for long-standing failings.

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

November 28, 2024

Scrap metal dealer posed significant danger to road users

A scrap metal dealer that demonstrated “a total contempt for the regulatory regime” has been disqualified indefinitely

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

November 23, 2024

Recycler failed to separate vehicles from workers

A major metal recycling firm has been hit with a £650,000 fine after it failed to segregate HGVs from pedestrians while waste was being manually sorted

Compliance News - Chris Tindall

November 22, 2024