Shanmugam Kukesan, sole Director of Harrow-based Kyrah Travels, has been disqualified from holding a PSV O-Licence for three years
Shanmugam Kukesan, sole Director of Harrow-based Kyrah Travels, has been disqualified from holding a PSV O-Licence for three years, and the company’s two-vehicle national licence revoked, after DTC John Baker decided that he presented a risk to the public and needed to be kept away from the industry for a period.
Evidence was given at an Eastbourne Public Inquiry that on 21 July 2021 a vehicle was stopped by DVSA. The driver of the vehicle was Shanmugam Kukesan, who said that he was on a journey from Harrow to Slough and had transported children to school. A check on Mr Kukesan’s driving licence showed that he held provisional entitlements for large goods vehicles and passenger carrying vehicles. Because of the date when his full car licence was issued, he also held a D1 entitlement which allowed him to drive vehicles with up to 16 seats, but a restriction limited the driving to occasions which were other than for hire or reward.
Enquiries also revealed that Mr Kukesan did not hold a Driver CPC qualification or a driver tachograph card. The tachograph in the vehicle was defective and there was no legal lettering or schoolchildren signage on the vehicle. When asked about the TM, Tarun Vanmali, Mr Kukesan said that he had died as a result of a COVID-19 infection and that he had no contact with him since December 2020.
Mr Kukesan told the DTC that he had not said he had dropped schoolchildren off, and he had always known of the restriction on his licence. His journey had been to recover the driver of his other vehicle after that had broken down.
Making the revocation and disqualification orders, the DTC said that the requirement for financial standing was not currently met and there had not been a TM since December 2020. He was in no doubt that Mr Kukesan had driven while carrying schoolchildren for reward.
His statements to the contrary were unbelievable and showed that he was a person who would lie to try and avoid the consequences of his actions.
The fact that Mr Kukesan drove when not entitled to do so, thereby invalidating insurance cover, was very serious. He had not produced any evidence to demonstrate that the authorised vehicles were being properly inspected and maintained or that the driver he employed was driving in accordance with the hours prescribed.
