A haulier has had its appeal against its double licence revocation dismissed after a tribunal heard it traded without an operating centre for more than two years.
DFL Transport, which had a licence in both the North East and East of England traffic areas, came to the attention of the traffic commissioner (TC) after it submitted an incomplete application to add a new transport manager and then removed its existing one, Pawel Domanski.
A proposal to revoke the licence was then sent to the operator, before the depot’s owner contacted the Office of the TC (OTC) stating that he had told DFL Transport to vacate its premises in February 2020, which it had done.
Despite reminders being sent to the haulier, no correspondence was received and so both O-licences were revoked.
Karol Frasunski then appealed the decision, claiming that he had now taken over as director and the company had changed correspondence address and email address and so it had not received the OTC’s letters. Frasunski said he would take care to follow the correct procedures in the future.
However, the appeal tribunal said that operating vehicles without a specified operating centre and failing to respond to correspondence were serious regulatory failings.
Judge Beech said: “DFL had clearly and obviously failed to comply with the conditions and undertakings on both licences and the TC’s concerns about DFL were amply justified on the evidence.”
