Serious false statements in licence application

A new licence application by a construction company to operate HGVs in Portsmouth has been refused after a traffic commissioner found that it was a “pre-emptive phoenix”.

TC Kevin Rooney said there had been “inexcusable illegal operation” by Elite Tippers & Grabs over a 10-week period using a licence belonging to Havant Plant Hire, which had entered liquidation.

At a Bristol public inquiry, director Lisa Waterhouse said she had not declared the previous history of Havant Plant Hire in the Elite licence application because it was not her company but her husband’s.

However, she accepted that she should have done so because her husband David was also a director of Elite Tippers and she had been Havant’s transport manager.

She also admitted that vehicles had been operated after Havant entered insolvency proceedings and that its liquidator had told them both they could do this.

But in his decision Rooney said that in the same way he wouldn’t consult a plumber when his TV didn’t work, they should not have relied on advice from an insolvency practitioner about operator licensing.

He said there had been a number of serious false statements in Elite Tippers’ licence application and that not seeking professional advice from someone with commercial transport experience was “reckless and demonstrates a high degree of fault.”

However, he also pointed to positives in the case: it was not a situation where no attempt was made to pay the Crown debt and there were plausible explanations for how Havant got into the condition it was.

“From a general compliance perspective, there are no concerns,” the TC added.

But Rooney concluded: “I have an application that is full of false statements, that is timed to seek to allow a seamless continuation of operations following the write-down of a significant crown debt and where there has been illegal operation of four or five vehicles over a ten-week period.

“We are in a period of high levels of insolvencies in transport companies. Many facing that predicament are coming to traffic commissioners at the first sign of trouble and being open and honest about the position they are in, how it arose and the possibilities for the future.

“In this case, this application is a pre-emptive phoenix where the truth was sought to be withheld until the last possible minute.”