Operator is Granted New Licence at Traffic Commissioner’s Despite Previous History of Non Compliance

Barrister Helen Newbold represented this operator who had made an application for a new licence 3 years after the incorporation and commencement of his new company. Having held a sole trader licence for 20 years this operator was unable to show that he had any maintenance records for his vehicle, no driver walk around checks could be evidenced, no tachograph downloads were available or drivers hours records kept. The operator had also failed to inform the Traffic Commissioner of his bankruptcy or the change of entity from sole trader to limited company. In short,  he demonstrated a wholesale neglect of his regulatory requirements.

Taking the operator through these failings Helen Newbold was able to demonstrate where and how these failings had occurred and set out a clear step by step strategy by which the new company would operate. The Traffic Commissioner accepted a number of specific undertakings and granted the application with a commencement date 4 weeks after the effective revocation date of the existing licence, giving the operator a de facto 4 week suspension.