An operator who ignored repeated warnings not to run HGVs without obtaining a licence has had his application refused by the traffic commissioner (TC).
West Midlands TC Nick Denton said Yaser Khalayla embarked upon his business of transporting damaged and scrap vehicles without ever troubling to find out whether or not he needed an operator’s licence.
The operator, trading as Halesfield Motor Spares, near Telford, had a vehicle stopped by the DVSA in February 2018. It did not have a tachograph and the operator had no licence.
A traffic examiner subsequently visited the company premises and told Khalayla that he could be prosecuted if he was found to be operating before a licence was granted.
More than two months later an application was received by the central licensing office and despite a further warning, the DVSA stopped one of his lorries in September 2018 and found it was still operating without a licence.
At a public inquiry (PI) in Birmingham, Khalayla said he thought he could operate vehicles because he had paid a fee when he applied for an interim licence. It later transpired he had not applied for an interim licence.
He also said he had not known a licence had to be granted before he could operate, something TC Denton said he doubted because of the repeated warnings he had received.
Denton also said it was “shocking” that he attended a PI with transport consultant Kasad Ali with no documentation related to his proposed maintenance system or drivers’ hours regime.
In a written decision refusing the company’s application, the TC said Khalayla could not be trusted to comply with the law: “He has simply ignored it, despite several reminders of the potential consequences of doing so.”
