A haulage director who was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for money laundering has been banned from running HGVs for five years.
Gurbax Singh used his Harrow, West London, alcohol wholesale business UKK Wines to trade in non-UK duty paid alcohol, traffic commissioner (TC) for London and the South East Nick Denton was told at a public inquiry (PI) earlier this month.
Denton said it was appropriate for the business’s O-licence to be revoked as Singh’s prison sentence had left it “rudderless and wholly unable to fulfil its compliance responsibilities” .
DVSA evidence presented at the PI also showed that UKK Wines allowed its O-licence to be used by “illegal operators” , allowing them to continue to
run vehicles. The firm had also failed to produce documentation when requested, and allowed trucks to be parked on other sites without the TC’s permission.
Drivers had committed offences such as failing to use a tachograph chart or digital card, and the DVSA found that some 1,364km was missing from vehicle records.
His criminal conviction aside, the TC said Singh had inadequate oversight of UKK Wines’ O-licence and vehicles and had neglected his responsibilities as an operator.
Denton said the five-year disqualification reflected the seriousness of the prison sentence and the fact that “his crime was bound up with the business of the operator and its vehicles” .
UKK Wines had its O-licence suspended for five days in 2013 following a separate PI.
