The upper tribunal has dismissed an appeal by an Essex operator whose O-licence was revoked by a deputy traffic commissioner after he found it could not be trusted to operate in a compliant manner.
Grays-based TA Trucking appealed against a decision earlier this year by deputy traffic commissioner (DTC) John Baker to revoke its O-licence after it failed to meet professional competence requirements and good repute standards.
A week before the appeal was due to be heard, shareholder and director John Kellegher contacted the upper tribunal requesting a postponement due to a family emergency.
However, due to insufficient information being received about the circumstances surrounding Kellegher’s absence, the decision was taken to proceed.
There were eight grounds of appeal, which included a claim that the DTC wrongly drew adverse inferences from the purchase price paid for TA Trucking and that it might be being used as a front by a previously disqualified director.
But after reviewing the case the tribunal said: “The lack of credible evidence in support of a bona fide purchase of the company and the lack of corroborative evidence concerning the arrangements which it was said were in place justified the conclusion that there were links with MPS Enterprises and [disqualified director] Mr McMahon sufficient, with other factors mentioned, to justify the conclusion that the company could not be trusted to operate in a compliant manner going forward.”
The appeal also said the maintenance record of another company Kellegher had previously been involved with should have been reflected favourably in the decision, but the tribunal disagreed and found that the DTC had given a balanced view.
