Traffic commissioner (TC) Nick Denton has refused to issue an O-licence to a concrete supplier after one of its directors said he would rather operate illegally than wait until its application was granted.
The TC for London and the South East said there was sufficient evidence to suggest that Silvertown, east London-based Metro Concrete had been operating HGVs without permission. It also used an O-licence disc that had been issued to another company that had its licence revoked in February.
A public inquiry in September, which the firm did not attend, was told that one of Metro’s vehicles was stopped by the DVSA in April and then by police 11 days later.
Tachograph records and driver defect reports found in one of the trucks showed that it had been operating for at least seven days in March, despite the company being warned against doing so in correspondence it received when it applied for an O-licence.
The TC also noted that a DVSA examiner had highlighted the illegal operation to director Philip Fitzsimmons when the truck was stopped.
TC Denton said: “Because of this persistent illegal operation, in the face of both the written warnings and a verbal intervention by a traffic examiner, I find the applicant is not fit to hold a licence.”
