Olympic Scaffolding revoked licence stands after appeal dismissed

Chris Tindall
June 13, 2019

An appeal against a decision by deputy traffic commissioner (TC) John Baker to disqualify a director and revoke his O-licence has been dismissed after a tribunal found the operator had a “dreadful record of non-compliance”.

Vincent Larkin, operator of Olympic Scaffolding, had appealed Baker’s decision to disqualify him following a public inquiry in Eastbourne that found there had been a blatant disregard of a request by the DVSA for records to conduct a compliance check. Baker said Larkin had “a significant history in relation to previous licences and compliance issues” over the past decade.

Larkin appealed, stating that he was not given any credit for the efforts he had made to comply; he was not given an opportunity to remedy the problems and the two-year disqualification was excessive.

For the appellant, Paul Carless said Larkin was not a rogue; and a failure to produce records was not the same thing as having a poorly maintained fleet and that all the issues could have been resolved through undertakings by Larkin.

But the appeal tribunal disagreed. “We are satisfied that the decision of the deputy TC is not open to criticism,” it said. “Mr Larkin has a dreadful record of non-compliance with warnings, a suspension and two revoked licences. There was no credible explanation for why Mr Larkin did not produce the maintenance records for the period requested by TE Evans and we disagree with the submission of Mr Carless that a failure to produce documents is not as serious as operating vehicles in an unroadworthy condition.”

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About the Author

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Chris Tindall

Chris Tindall started writing for the haulage and logistics industry in 2002 and has covered a broad range of significant issues, including GPS jamming by criminals, platooning and Brexit.

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