http://www.truckingmag.co.uk August 2019 TRUCKING 77
Absolute Business
Services (Scotland) Ltd
LICENCE REVOCATION
WITHOUT PUBLIC
INQUIRY UPHELD
ON APPEAL
The revocation of the licence
held by Edinburgh-based
Absolute Business Services
(Scotland) Ltd by traffic
commissioner Joan Aitken on the
grounds it did not meet the
requirement to be professionally
competent without the company
being called to a Public Inquiry,
has been upheld by the Upper
Tribunal on appeal.
On July 27, 2018 the company
wrote to the commissioner to say
the external transport manager
had resigned with immediate
effect, and therefore they
requested a period of grace to
operate while a replacement was
found. There was an unsigned
and undated application form to
vary the licence by seeking to
add Steven Wales as the new
transport manager. In November,
the commissioner wrote to the
company warning she was
proposing to revoke the licence
because a number of requests for
the submission of a TM1 form
had not been met, pointing out
the company could request a
Public Inquiry. The licence was
revoked in January as there was
no response from the company.
The appeal was brought on the
basis the company did not
receive the letter of November 27
referred to in the revocation letter
of January 7, 2019. The company
had therefore been denied a
Public Inquiry. The company was
not provided with the reasons for
revocation. When only one
attempt at communication was
made by the commissioner, it
was disproportionate to revoke.
Before the Tribunal, director
Bryan Timmons said that
incorporated by reference into
the revocation letter dated
January 7, 2019. There had been
no request for a Public Inquiry,
and nothing in the particular
circumstances of the case
suggested one was necessary
fairly to decide the case.
The commissioner was
entitled to revoke the licence
without a public inquiry and she
did not behave in a
disproportionate manner.Darren Millington /
Stephen Young /
Benjamin Hayton
PRISON SENTENCES
FOR “INDUSTRIAL
SCALE TACHO
MANIPULATION”
Prison sentences totalling
nine years were imposed on
three men at Preston Crown
Court for what Judge Simon
Newell described as “industrial-
scale tachograph manipulation”.Following a five-week trial,
Darren Millington, of Hinstock,
Market Drayton, and Stephen
Young, of Goldthorn Avenue,
Wolverhampton, were each
convicted of conspiring to falsify
drivers’ records and of one count
of money laundering. Benjamin
Hayton, of Cumberland Avenue,
Leyland, was convicted of one
count of conspiracy to falsify
drivers’ records.
The court was told the case
was the result of a 4.5-yearbecause he had been abroad
and working on his other
businesses, he had taken his eye
off the ball with the haulage
company. The haulage company
was an investment he had made
on the advice of a friend of his
father. He had invested without
fully understanding the
procedures and was
inexperienced in the area; his
background being hospitality. He
had been living in Dubai for the
last couple of years and had
been busy with bars, restaurants
and other businesses in the last
18 months, but now he was back
in Scotland and wanted to make
a go of the haulage business.
Because he was here now,
more attention would be given
in the future. He accepted there
had been a lack of due
diligence and apologised for
what had happened.
Dismissing the appeal, the
Tribunal said the only basis on
which they could allow an appeal
against a decision of a traffic
commissioner would be if it found
the commissioner had erred in
law or the was plainly wrong on
the facts. Mr Timmons’ position
was things would be better in the
future, but that did not address
what was wrong with the
commissioner’s decision.
Further, the Tribunal could not
take into consideration any
circumstances which did not
exist at the time of the
determination which was the
subject of the appeal; Mr
Timmons’ return from Dubai to
Scotland and plans he was now
making for the business were
new circumstances.
The Tribunal did not accept the
company was not provided with
the reasons for revocation of the
licence. Those reasons were set
out in full in the letter of
November 27, 2018, andinvestigation by DVSA and
Lancashire police following the
stopping of a vehicle with an
interrupter device in Lancashire.
An intelligence-led investigation
and the execution of search
warrants led to evidence
being found that linked
Millington, Young and Hayton
to the production, supply and
fitting of sophisticated
tachograph recording
interrupter devices to heavy
goods vehicles.
It transpired Hayton and
Young designed the devices
and Millington procured them,
and they were fitted for up to
£1500 each.
Hayton fitted at least one
device to a vehicle belonging to
Preston-based S Bamford
International Ltd. During the
investigation, it was discovered
two of Bamford’s drivers had
falsely recorded rest periods
more than 630 times in threemonths. The drivers concerned
were given suspended prison
sentences and community
service orders.
S Bamford International
was dissolved on August 21,
2018 and its O-licence was
revoked by the traffic
commissioner for the North West
in October, with a condition any
further application for an
O-licence by directors Simon or
Julie Bamford be referred to a
traffic commissioner. ■Evidence was found that linked
Millington, Young and Hayton to the
production, supply and fitting of
sophisticated tachograph recording
interrupter devices.