A Barrow-in-Furness haulage firm whose then director and two managers were jailed for their part in a waste fraud that ripped off Cumbrian tax payers has lost its O-licence and been banned from holding one for five years.
KHJ, which held a licence for 10 vehicles and 10 trailers, had been called before North Western Traffic Commissioner Beverley Bell.
In June, David Armer, a then director, Peter Newton, husband of transport manager Joan Newton, and manager Andrew Kershaw pleaded guilty at Carlisle Crown Court to conspiracy to obtain money by deception.
Armer was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment, disqualified from being a company director for four years and ordered to pay £6,000 in costs. Newton was sentenced to six months imprisonment. Kershaw was sentenced to eight months imprisonment and ordered to pay £6,000 in costs.
The three had conspired to exaggerate the amount of rubbish the company was collecting for Cumbria Country Council over a three-month period in 2006. They used false paperwork to boost earnings by claiming that trucks were carrying more rubbish than they actually were, or created job tickets for loads that had not even existed.
The company was previously called CAW, but changed its name on 8 October 2008.
Director Ann Armer said that although she had been a director since 2002 her involvement in the company had not commenced until her husband was sent to prison. She was heavily reliant on Joan Newton, the transport manager, and Ann Kirkwood, the company secretary, who carried out a lot of the administration and paperwork. Peter Newton was helping her with the transport side of the business as she had found that difficult.
Making the revocation and disqualification orders, the TC said all the key individuals played a significant part in a very serious fraud, or allowed it to happen. This was a case where the offences were so serious that it is entirely right that the company should no longer be allowed to operate trucks.
