Steven Heard, director of CTR Tipping Services in Sheerness, Kent, has been disqualified from running vehicles for three years because of the sustained and deliberately illegal practices he used to keep his operations going.
South East TC Nick Denton (pictured) also revoked the O-licence held by the firm, which was authorised to run five vehicles and five trailers, at a public inquiry in Eastbourne, in November.
TC Denton said Heard’s conduct had shown that he was ready to ignore almost any rule or requirement in order to keep his operation going, including:
“Neglect of such core compliance responsibilities and basic legal requirements over such a prolonged period of time fully justifies the revocation of the licences and the cessation of the business,” said the TC.
Examiners from the DVSA told the inquiry the firm had failed to meet safety and licensing standards, and that shortcomings in maintenance procedures included vehicles not being given safety inspections on time. In one instance a vehicle had not been inspected for 31 weeks.
Eight prohibitions had been issued to vehicles during roadside checks in the past five years. One vehicle had 10 out of 10 wheel nuts loose and one of the company’s drivers was given a fixed penalty because he did not have enough tachograph charts in his possession.
The DVSA also reported vehicles had been operated with expired tax discs and that cheques issued by the company for vehicle tax had been dishonoured. The DVLA lost £1,085 in revenue as a result. The business subsequently failed to respond to a legal requirement requesting the production of records relating to its drivers.
The DVSA also attempted to investigate another company of which CTR Tipping Services’ nominated transport manager Richard Heard was listed as a director and transport manager: RPJ Transport. The business failed to produce any records relating to its vehicles and drivers.
Steven Heard said both firms had been under extreme financial pressure at the end of 2012, with many employees having been made redundant. He subsequently took over as director and transport manager for both companies. He also admitted knowing vehicles were not taxed and continuing to run them to get through financial difficulties. He did not notify the TC’s office because he knew there would be consequences.
TC Denton said evidence of changes made to run a compliant operation were substantially outweighed by the multitude of serious negative factors.
Summing Up
The traffic commissioners take a dim view of repeated and sustained evasion of VED, alongside a failure to comply with requests made to operators by the DVSA.
This article originally appeared in Commercial Motor 5 february. Why not subscribe?
