A Felixstowe firm that relied on an unauthorised operating centre and falsified bank statements in an attempt to show it had the finances to run eight vehicles has been disqualified for seven years. PCH Transport was found to lack the funds to operate even one vehicle when it appeared before the traffic commissioner (TC) Nick Denton at a Cambridge public inquiry (PI).
The TC said that the bank statements demonstrating the haulier’s financial standing were “clear and obvious falsifications” and that scissors and paste had been used to try and show it had the funds to run eight HGVs. Denton said the company had previously been warned about using an unauthorised base, but it had started doing so again and a DVSA investigation found several thousand missing kilometres and no evidence of drivers’ hours data analysis or infringement reports being generated. PCH Transport director Petras Crockevicius insisted he had not falsified documents, but suggested it was his accountant that had done it instead; a claim the TC said “defied credulity”.
Revoking the licence and disqualifying the transport manager Keith Fallon indefinitely, Denton said: “This is not a company or director who should be allowed back into the industry before a very considerable period of time has elapsed.”
