Operator loses repute and licence after range of failings

A Birmingham international transport operator has had its licence revoked by the traffic commissioner (TC) after persistent O-licence failures were uncovered during a DVSA investigation.

D&G International Transport was found to have insufficient or no systems in place to comply with the licensing system, including for producing records and tachograph data when requested by the enforcement agency.

An HGV belonging to the haulier, which had operating centres in Hams Hall and Hampton-in-Arden, was subject to a DVSA roadside check and it was issued with an immediate prohibition for having a tyre with damage to the tread area that exposed the cords.

A subsequent roadside check of another truck belonging to D&G International Transport found roadworthiness defects on both the vehicle and the trailer and it also received an immediate prohibition, this time for an inoperative direction indicator.

The traffic examiner found that the vehicle unit had not been downloaded for 153 days and the tachograph card had not been downloaded within the legally required 28 days.

Follow-up visits to the haulier’s premises and requests for data downloads were ignored, and so following a Birmingham public inquiry (PI), deputy traffic commissioner (TC) Fiona Harrington decided that it should no longer hold an O-licence.

In her oral decision following the PI, which the operator did not attend, the deputy TC said D&G had no prior adverse compliance history, some DVSA roadside encounters found vehicles and trailers to be free of defects, and it had been able to demonstrate financial standing.

However, Harrington added: “I consider that the conduct is so serious that regulatory action against the licence must be considered. The operator has lost its good repute and its professional competence for the purposes of O-licensing. The public interest in maintaining the integrity of the O-licensing system requires me to revoke this licence, and it is not disproportionate to do so, even if this puts the operator out of business.”

But the deputy TC stopped short of disqualifying the operator: “I do not find that the objectives of the system, the protection of the public and fairness to other operators, require I take the additional step of making any orders of disqualification,” she added.