Suspension for absent transport manager
Operator "on probation" after operating without a transport manager
Compliance News - Chris Tindall
July 7, 2021
An application to the traffic commissioner for the return of a vehicle by a company whose licence was revoked has been refused after it was found it was being operated unlawfully.
A three-axle Iveco pulling a semi-trailer laden with a container was escorted into a DVSA enforcement site near Abingdon earlier this year, before it was revealed that the driver was working for RFS Hire.
This haulier had its licence revoked in 2020 and director Roger Fowler disqualified after a TC described the state of its fleet as “appalling” (CM 8 July). The Iveco was detained and Fowler later applied for its return, claiming that he had no idea it was being used unlawfully.
In his application, Fowler stated he had already sold it for export to Gambia. “The vehicle should have been returning to Bristol unit only but the agents gave the driver the wrong detail and sent him on a job he shouldn’t have been doing,” he said.
But western traffic area TC Kevin Rooney said he was satisfied the papers had been properly served. “The driver was clear that he was working for RFS Hire Ltd,” he said. “There were delivery notes in the name of RFS Hire Ltd. The vehicle was being used unlawfully and DVSA had every right to detain it. The application is refused.”
