In refusing a bid for a restricted licence by Wirral-based Lawrence Entwistle, Traffic Commissioner (TC) Simon Evans made it clear that there was “no wriggle room” with the main occupation rule after hearing that Mr Entwistle was proposing to take a six-month career break to set up the business.
Mr Entwistle had sought a new one-vehicle restricted licence before the TC at a Golborne Public Inquiry.
He said that he was employed by Wirral Borough Council driving disabled and vulnerable people to day centres. If the licence was granted he would put his domestic partner, Julie Reeves, through the D1 driving test and Driver CPC as she would be driving the minibus. The people he was proposing to carry were losing their funding for transport due to cut backs and he had 11 names so far who had approached him to fill the gap.
He thought now he would have been better applying for a national licence but when he made the application in October he did not have the required funds in place for a national licence. He now realised he had applied for the wrong licence. For the future he would seek to get his own Transport Manager (TM) CPC or employ a TM.
When asked whether, in reality, he would be breaking the main occupation rule, Mr Entwistle said that he would still be driving for the Borough Council carrying the same number of people, as new people were coming into the system. He had applied for a career break for a short period to get the business up and running while his partner obtained the required driving licence and CPC. His employers had been very supportive in what he was trying to do.
The TC said that either the job with the Borough Council was Mr Entwistle’s main occupation or it was not. It was probably right that he had chosen the wrong licence to apply for.
In refusing the application, he said that Mr Entwistle’s plan to achieve what he wanted to do broke the main occupation rule.
Mr Entwistle needed to go away and think carefully about what he wanted to do – whether to seek a national licence or to apply again for a restricted licence after his partner obtained the required driving licence and driver CPC. Paying her a wage could qualify him for a restricted licence. At the moment he did not have a driver to do it.
