Dent Logistics has been given a “strong formal warning” by a deputy traffic commissioner after it failed to report a fatal road traffic collision.
The Penrith company also did not inform the TC that it had been convicted after one of its drivers was found to have driven without a valid CPC qualification for two years.
At a Golborne public inquiry DTC Gerallt Evans heard how the operator failed to declare the road traffic fatality in August 2021 and of the driver’s subsequent conviction; a situation transport manager Fiona Cannon later apologised for and said she was unaware it needed to be notified.
Former transport manager Hollie Dent accepted she was responsible for checking driver Arran Barbieri’s driving licence when he was employed in July 2021.
She failed to notice his CPC had expired, although Evans said there was some mitigation in that the operator should have checked the system again and identified the error.
The DTC also said the situation was aggravated when Cannon, the partner of sole director Thomas Dent, made the decision to continue using Barbieri for driving duties until he undertook the required training three months’ later.
In his written decision, Evans said he accepted that the driver involved in the fatality was no longer employed by Dent Logistics when the conviction was recorded, but that there was no mitigation for failing to report the conviction for drivers’ hours offences:
“It is a criminal offence to drive without a valid CPC qualification,” he said. “It is completely unacceptable for any operator or transport manager to knowingly allow a person to drive for them knowing that they do not have a valid CPC no matter how great the temptation.”
However, the DTC stepped back from finding Cannon’s repute was lost, due to the operator’s general compliance and the improvements she had implemented since 2022 and so he made a finding that it was severely tarnished instead and he recorded a strong and final warning.
Evans said suspending the licence would have a disproportionate effect on the business and so he issued a strong formal warning.
The DTC also said there was no evidence of any dishonesty or deliberate impropriety by Dent and that she left her position at the firm while the fatal traffic investigation was at an early stage. As a result she was issued with a formal warning.
