
A Wiltshire haulage firm has had its licence revoked after an investigation found the vast majority of its drivers were employed through a limited company.
West of England traffic commissioner Kevin Rooney said a DVSA investigation into Quick Road Transport, which ran 15 HGVs, found that all bar one of its drivers had set up a limited company through which they were employed by the haulier.
Following a Bristol public inquiry, the TC said the drivers were known as “Ltd drivers” and explained:
“The driver is the servant of their own limited company. It is their limited company that pays them and gives them their directions.
“The arrangement with Quick Road Transport was that it was contracted to work for a customer such as Amazon or any other. It then sub-contracted that work to a number of limited companies. Those limited companies then employed the driver.”
This arrangement has been criticised by HMRC for giving operators an unfair commercial advantage, as they avoid paying national insurance and pension contributions.
It can also enable professional drivers to avoid their own tax liabilities.
In a separate case last November, Enero Logistics was found to have been paying drivers through an agency arrangement after it was previously ordered to stop paying them through their own limited companies.
In the Quick Road Transport case, TC Rooney also found that the company did not meet financial standing levels and that director and transport manager Mariusz Brdak had taken his CPC in Poland, which was not valid in the UK.