‘Gross failure’ puts Devon firm out of business

The traffic commissioner has kicked a haulier out of the industry after finding that its transport manager was “just a name on the licence” and was relying on drivers with zero hours contracts.

TC Kevin Rooney said sole trader William Cleave had not complied with drivers’ hours and tachograph rules and he found this a very serious matter.

The operator held a licence authorising three vehicles and three trailers running out of a site in Beaworthy, Devon but it came to the attention of the DVSA after the agency became concerned about its driver management and the transport manager Michael Swift.

Its investigations found no evidence of journey planning, no digital data was provided for one of its lorries, driver infringement reports were not signed off by the transport manager and not all drivers were recording their activities and discrepancies in tacho reports.

In addition, a zero hours contract was produced, which showed a driver was responsible for paying their own PAYE obligations and it could not find any evidence of Swift’s involvement.

The operator did not attend the Bristol PI but TC Rooney went ahead in its absence, satisfied that it had received the call-up letter.

He said the way drivers were being paid appeared to be a device to avoid paying tax and national insurance liabilities: “Whether it goes as far as to be fraud in the legal sense is not for me as a traffic commissioner to determine,” he said.

“If the taxation arrangement does not amount to actual fraud, I find it is most certainly unethical. I attach significant weight.”

Rooney said the operator’s failure to provide the DVSA with digital tachograph data in relation to one of its drivers was a criminal offence and he added there was no evidence of Swift playing any part in the transport operation:

“As a result of the operator failing to ensure that the transport manager was anything other than just a name on the licence, compliance has fallen far short of what is required.”

The TC described this as a gross failure and, alongside the lack of cooperation, meant that the haulier deserved to be put out of business.