Bell ends Penistone application after being left dangling by managers at public inquiry

A Sheffield haulier’s O-licence application has been refused at public inquiry after the firm failed to make a formal adjournment request and explain why its director and transport manager could not attend.

Traffic commissioner (TC) Sarah Bell (pictured) said Penistone Logistics did not formally ask for a suspension of proceedings or provide evidence to demonstrate valid reasons in support of the suggestion that the director and transport manager were unavailable on the day of the hearing.

In the Senior TC’s Statutory Guidance and Direction on Case Management No 9, it clearly sets out that applicants have to apply for an adjournment if they cannot attend, provide reasons why the postponement is requested and lodge supporting evidence.

The statutory document also makes clear that where an applicant has been given proper notice of a hearing and fails to attend, without complying with the guidance, a TC is entitled to proceed with the inquiry.

In a written decision issued after the September hearing, TC Bell said that she had considered adjourning the hearing to give the company an opportunity to attend. However, the firm’s approach to the application process led her to conclude the hearing should take place.

“The applicant failed to lodge a complete and accurate application at the outset and continued to fail to do so and meet the financial standing in a prescribed manner, despite valiant attempts by the Central Licensing Office in Leeds to assist,” she said.

This failure included producing a letter from the Santander Bank relating to an allegedly available overdraft facility. The content of the document, including a number of spelling errors, raised concerns with the TC’s office and the bank later confirmed the letter had not been issued by them.

TC Bell noted that the production of a false document with a view to gaining a financial advantage, given the value of an O-licence to any business, was an offence.

She said: “It is not surprising that the Central Licensing Office in Leeds faces an uphill task in a timely throughput of applications for new and existing operators when 80% of new applications are incomplete and/or inaccurate.

“In my judgement therefore, it is only fair to other operators and applicants that no additional staff and traffic commissioner time is set aside for this [application].”

The company’s one-vehicle, standard national licence application was refused after the TC said she remained to be satisfied on repute and financial standing.

TC Bell noted that any future applications involving the director, Betty Beever, or transport manager, Andrew Beever, would be referred to the TC for consideration.

This article first appeared in the 18 September edition of Commercial Motor.
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