Disqualified operator’s father in ‘deliberate subterfuge’

The deputy traffic commissioner (TC) for the North West has refused an application by a waste operator that lost its licence in January after the father of the disqualified director attempted to oversee the operation.

Deputy TC Simon Evans said he believed there was “deliberate subterfuge to obscure what was going on” – the continued operation of A2Z Skip Hire with disqualified boss Stephen Owen (Jnr) still playing a major part in it.

The firm had its licence revoked after evidence emerged of prohibitions issued to its trucks, inadequate record keeping, poor management of driver defect reporting, and a failure to honour licence undertakings.

A month later, an application was made in the same name for four HGVs, but with Owen’s father Stephen Owen (Snr) replacing his son as sole director.

Owen (Snr) had not previously held a licence, but at a Warrington public enquiry (PI) to find out if the proposed arrangement was a front for Owen (Jnr), he told Evans he had been involved in skip businesses for many years and had driven 3.5-tonne vehicles.

He also said he had succeeded his son because he was “doing it wrong” and he could do it better.

Owen (Snr) said he could restrict his son’s duties at the new business and he would even agree to excluding his involvement altogether if necessary.

But in his written decision, the deputy TC said appointing Owen (Snr) as director had all the hallmarks of a snap decision.

“Whilst the said Stephen Owen (Snr) asserted on several occasions that he would be able to manage the licence in a much more compliant fashion than his son had, he has not persuaded me that he has either the skills or the understanding to enable him to do so,” Evans said.

“He had no real sense of what his son had done wrong, despite being asked about it.

He added: “Whilst I note that I am readily offered that an undertaking that Stephen Owen (Jnr) shall play no part in the business would be acceptable to the current director, I struggle to accept that such a provision would be complied with.

“I find it wholly unrealistic that Stephen Owen (Jnr) could carry out a role as manager without in fact acting as a shadow director might, never mind not having any role at all.”