The 10-vehicle O-Licence held by Kirkby-in-Ashfield-based Butler Brothers has been suspended for four weeks by Deputy Traffic Commissioner (DTC) Mark Hinchliffe following the fraudulent obtaining of Driver CPCs.
In addition, the DTC disqualified sole director James Butler as Transport Manager (TM) for 12 months, allowing the company a three-month period of grace for the nomination and appointment of an acceptable, qualified and professionally competent TM. He also suspended the vocational driving licences of drivers John Daffin and Richard Davies for three weeks; and those of Mr Butler, Nicholas Lee and Paul Morley for five weeks.
The DTC said that when interviewed by DVSA Mr Butler had said that, as the deadline loomed, he realised that he and four other drivers needed to get their Driver CPC hours in, otherwise the drivers would be unable to legally drive past their deadlines. Mr Butler himself had already done a module, but he urgently needed to complete his hours.
Because of when the CPC scheme commenced, a high number of drivers had a deadline of 9 September 2024 and, although courses and modules could be completed at any time over the five-year period, they had all left it to the last minute, along with many other drivers around the country. This meant that he was unable to get himself or his drivers booked on a course, either in a classroom, or online.
He asked another operator for advice, and he was given a phone number for a trainer who might be able to fit everyone in. He rang the number and spoke to a man who subsequently visited and took away nearly £2,000 in cash, being the ‘course fees’ for Mr Butler and four drivers. Mr Butler then heard nothing until, in a panic, he logged on to see his CPC record, and saw that he had been recorded as attending courses and therefore had an updated CPC entitlement. The same applied to his drivers.
Mr Butler was not a credible or trustworthy witness. There was no reasonable explanation for his complete failure to get a receipt for a large amount of cash handed over to a stranger or to discuss what course/modules would be offered, or to find out anything about the training organisation or trainers.
Not having to release all his drivers for 35 hours each was the real and tangible benefit obtained by paying over the odds to have names included in a fraudulent register. Mr Butler failed to disclose to DVSA that he and his drivers had not done the CPC courses and, therefore, should not have CPC cards. He sent a dishonest email to DVSA claiming training had been done online when he knew it had not, and he colluded with Mr Lee and Mr Morley in sending to DVSA fraudulent Working Time Record Book entries.
The DTC was sure beyond all reasonable doubt that Mr Butler either knew, or at least suspected, that the deal he was entering into was a sham, which would effectively relieve him of the need to make his drivers available for 35 hours of online or classroom training.
