The traffic commissioner for the South East revoked the licence of a skip operator and disqualified the director for three years after it failed to ensure systems were in place to keep vehicles safe.
TC Sarah Bell said she was entitled to act before “death or serious injury” was caused by the operation of Hello Skips’ trucks and that director Charles Willard bore a high degree of responsibility for paying lip service to the requirement for systems which were meant to protect lives.
The Chichester operator did not appear at the Eastbourne public inquiry; the director phoned the TC’s office on the day of the hearing to say he wished to surrender the licence instead.
This was refused and the PI went ahead in his absence.
The TC explained how Willard had failed to properly engage with the DVSA for around a year and that he failed to engage with any of the directions set out in the call-in letter.
The enforcement agency found Hello Skips had been using an unauthorised operating centre; breached a condition when the licence was granted to ensure reversing alarms were fitted to vehicles; failed to produce raw data in relation to drivers’ hours, tachographs and the working time directive and it had also failed to notify the TC’s office of a material change in its financial position.
A roadside encounter led to an HGV receiving a prohibition notice for multiple safety critical items, but instead of getting the faults fixed it presented the vehicle at an MOT the following month: “It is incomprehensible how an operator with this history and knowing it has been called to a public inquiry, allows [the HGV] to be presented for MOT in an unsafe condition,” said TC Bell.
“The vehicle failed on six items including steering, additional braking devices and secondary brake performance. There was also an advisory for brake systems and components.”
She said Willard could not be trusted and this lack of trust began the day it was granted a licence as it had ignored the reversing alarms condition.
“The absence of any regard by Mr Willard for anything other than his commercial needs undermines the bedrock principles for which the operator licensing regime exists – road safety and fair competition for the benefit of all operators,” she added.
