The Traffic Commissioner for the North East of England, Tim Blackmore, has revoked the operator's licence held by Mansfield haulier Alexander Coates and disqualified him from holding or obtaining a licence for six months.
His decision follows a public inquiry in Leeds last week, which Coates failed to attend. The operator had earlier tried to surrender his licence.
The industry regulator said Coates had no apparent desire to gain knowledge of the licensing system. He added: "The failure to engage with the transport manager over a 10-month period is a serious oversight and led to the breach of drivers’ hours and maintenance responsibilities."
Blackmore also issued a warning to former transport manager, Mary Brown, after she failed to ensure continuous and effective management of the transport operation.
He said: "There is a responsibility of the transport manager to keep the Office of the Traffic Commissioner informed of actions that compromise the compliance of the licence and her judgement was clouded in this regard by the longstanding friendship of her son with the operator; she should have informed the Office of the Traffic Commissioner that she was no longer working for Alexander Coates and not relied on him to do so."
Michael V Greenway - 12/12/2017 12:10
As a qualified Transport Manager & CPC holder I find this totally unacceptable how companies under value our worth & needs tightening up. I have been out of work for sometime after being made redundant when the company I worked for was taken over by American Venture team and they closed down the Transport operation. To date I have found that some companies do not value the commitment and responsibility that Transport Managers/Operators undertake.