Traffic Commissioner (TC) Nick Denton has taken regulatory action against two unconnected operators after they were reported to him by HMRC for offences.
During a public inquiry (PI) in Eastbourne in April into Addlestone-based Capital Demolition, the TC was told that HMRC officers had visited the company’s operating centre in October 2013 to carry out assurance checks.
Two HGVs and one private car were found running on red diesel. A stock tank in the yard was also tested and found to contain red diesel, which HMRC officers seized.
The operator told Denton it ran plant equipment, for which rebated fuel was legal, but that insufficient care had been taken to keep the fuel for plant separate from fuel for vehicles.
The TC suspended Capital Demolition’s licence for 14 days from 7 April.
Another public inquiry was held on the same day into Daniel Gould, trading as Dee Gee Logistics, based in Uxbridge.
The TC was told that the driver of a vehicle encountered by HMRC officers in October 2012 could not produce the correct paperwork for a load of mixed beer he was carrying.
Further checks revealed the paperwork he produced had already been used by another vehicle.
The driver said he worked for MJC Trading, but O-licence records showed the vehicle was specified on Gould’s licence.
Denton found that Gould had, in effect, lent his licence to another business, which had operated without authority and in a criminal manner by avoiding alcohol duty.
He revoked Gould’s licence with immediate effect. The referrals follow a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) agreed between the traffic commissioners, DVSA and HMRC to report the latter’s CV enforcement activity, including the use of rebated fuel.
“The MoU is designed to increase the flow of information to traffic commissioners about which operators have been
using such fuel and therefore gaining an unfair and illegal competitive advantage,” said the TC.
