Upper Tribunal upholds Transfreeze revocation decision

A temperature-controlled operator that had a “culture of non-compliance” and allowed drivers to breach drivers’ hours regulations has lost an appeal against the revocation of its O-licence.

In October last year, traffic commissioner (TC) for the North West Beverley Bell took away Transfreeze’s O-licence following a number of offences that included overloading, operating without a transport manager for several months, drivers’ hours and tachograph offences, and not having satisfactory maintenance arrangements in place. Director Jamie Morritt also lost his repute and was disqualified indefinitely.

Transfreeze was called to a public inquiry (PI) following a DVSA investigation that uncovered 77 drivers’ hours and records infringements. The investigation was launched after a series of prohibitions and fixed penalty notices for overloading, tachograph infringements and weekly rest were issued within a short period of time in 2012.

During the investigation, one driver said he failed to take sufficient rest and use a chart due to threats from the company’s director, William Morritt. The driver claimed Morritt was “watching on his tracker” and instructed drivers to carry on driving without their card in if their vehicle had stopped.

None of the drivers received training about drivers’ hours rules and Driver CPC training was only initiated in June 2014, after the DVSA investigation had begun. Both directors also had records of hours infringements.

William Morritt also registered a Dutch haulage company, Transfreeze BV, but managed the vehicles at the UK firm’s operating centre in Ashbourne, Derbyshire.

During the July 2014 PI, William Morritt admitted that the company’s problems stemmed from his failure to properly train and control the firm’s drivers. He said he stepped down from his position as transport manager in January 2014, handing over responsibility to son Jamie Morritt.

The TC found that there was a culture of non-compliance driven by both William and Jamie Morritt, which went back to at least December 2012 and no significant action had been taken to stop it. It had also operated without professional competence since January 2014.

During the appeal hearing, the Upper Tribunal noted that given there was no evidence of drivers being instructed to stop and take rest when they were running out of hours, it was “irresistible” to determine that the directors condoned their behaviour.

The Tribunal also dismissed allegations that the TC was biased towards William Morritt, who she believed was still involved in the business. It also did not agree that the TC was critical of both directors failing to attend the public inquiry without a full forward planner, driver defect reports and staff warning book.

Summing up: The Tribunal agreed with the TC’s decision that William Morritt was the “brains” of the business, despite resigning, and upheld her decision to revoke Transfreeze’s licence.

• This article was published in the 21 May issue of Commercial Motor. Why not subscribe?