A transport manager who allowed a driver to regularly drive for eight to 10 hours without a break has lost his appeal against his disqualification.
Upper Tribunal judge Howard Levenson found that a period of disqualification was “inevitable” after Ronald Henry told former London and the South East traffic commissioner (TC) Nick Denton that he had not looked at tachograph charts very closely.
He acted as transport manager for his brother Arnold Henry, who traded as J C L & Son Haulage.
The operator was called to the PI in July last year after Arnold Henry was discovered to have had committed at least 69 drivers’ hours and tachograph offences over a five-month period.
The PI was also told that a vehicle had been operated entirely from Northampton for at least six months, despite it not holding an O-licence in the Eastern traffic area.
Ronald Henry told the TC that he looked at tachograph charts and maintenance documents every two months and told his brother to take his breaks and use the mode switch correctly, but his brother’s failings had not been picked up.
He had also not been paid for his work as a transport manager and had only received a written contract from the operator shortly before the PI.
The TC said Ronald Henry had “very little understanding of the responsibilities of a transport manager” and had allowed a situation to develop where his brother was driving for excessive hours.
He was disqualified indefinitely and ordered to retake his transport manager CPC exam and appear before a TC to re-establish his repute.
The TC also revoked the O-licence and disqualified Arnold Henry from holding or obtaining a licence from 1 September 2016 to 1 March 2017.
On appeal, Ronald Henry argued that both the decision to disqualify him and the period of disqualification were disproportionate.
The judge, however, agreed with the TC’s findings. “If we were to substitute a fixed period of disqualification, the rehabilitative measures would cease to have effect at the end of the period.”
