Regarding last month’s report of my appeal against the suspension and curtailment of my O-Licence, your readers may find the background to this case interesting.
I was called to a Public Inquiry to answer to an ‘unsatisfactory maintenance investigation’, to which the Traffic Commissioner (TC) made no reference at all during the hearing. I presume this was because I had by then notified him that the ’maintenance investigation’ was entirely bogus.
I have made a criminal complaint against the vehicle examiner (VE), so I will confine this letter to the undisputed facts, without straying into matters which have yet to be adjudicated.
The fact is that the VE arrived at his conclusions without examining a single vehicle or a single piece of paper. He neither met me, nor spoke to me. I was unaware that he was coming, or that he had been (if he did indeed visit the site). I never received a copy of his report, until it was pointed out to me that it was buried on page 41 of a 71-page call-up letter (how many trees were killed to produce this bloated document?). The VE attested that he had sent me a copy of his report, but this attestation is false.
The TC’s ruling itself is a complete muddle — he reduced my authorisation to one vehicle and requested the return of one disc, leaving me with two discs. He ’curtailed’ my licence, but the Upper Tribunal has advised me that he does not have the authority to do so — this measure only applies to goods vehicle licences. So, he has now cancelled his order suspending my licence — I think. And I have two discs, but an authorisation of one vehicle.
In addition, I find it frustrating that I am called to account by people who are themselves so blisteringly incompetent. Their paperwork is littered with errors: It has my vehicle registration number wrong; it has my wife’s name wrong; it lists my O-Licence as national instead of international; it states that I am mostly engaged in contract work, even though it is more than forty years since I was foolish enough to run a school contract. And worst of all, they dragged me down to Eastbourne for a 1000hrs hearing, only to be told on my arrival that the hearing was actually scheduled for 1400hrs. I have invoiced the Office of the Traffic Commissioner for my wasted time (which reminds me – it hasn’t paid my invoice yet).
I have, as I said, filed a criminal complaint against the VE concerned, alleging malfeasance in public office. This is an offence at common law which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
Who do these people think they are?
Hugo Miller, Horsham
