North Warwickshire Travel and its sole Director and Transport Manager (TM) Michael James have been disqualified from holding or obtaining a PSV O-Licence for three years by Traffic Commissioner (TC) Nick Jones following the revocation of the company’s licence.
The TC also disqualified Mr James from acting as a TM for a similar period.
The case came before the TC after the Upper Tribunal quashed the revocation of the six-vehicle international licence held by the firm, trading as Peoples Movers, of Tamworth, by TC Nick Denton in Mr James’ absence [routeone/Court Report/8 November 2017], ordering it to be reconsidered [routeone/Court Report/28 February].
Mr James was previously a director of Acorn Bus & Coach, Vals Bus & Coach and Tamworth Coach & Bus – all of whose licences were revoked. In February 2015 he was disqualified from holding or obtaining a PSV O-Licence for 12 months.
When the case came before the TC, he said that according to Company House records, Mr James became a Director of De Luxe Coach Services in April 2015. That company’s application was not referred to the TC in the North West. The rationale for the original Public Inquiry had been the company’s failure to operate two local services after short notice applications were refused [routeone/Court Report/28 March].
Making the disqualification orders, the TC said that Mr James was selective in his views on issues and “displays a level of arrogance and pig-headedness that is rarely seen”. He appeared to seek to live life on the edge.
When describing why he withdrew services without permission, it was clear Mr James had difficulties in having specialist meters that would have enabled him to claim a higher rate of BSOG. In other words, it would have cost money. That was not a justification for withdrawing services without permission after he was told his applications for short notice cancellations had been refused.
It appeared that Mr James had difficulty in running a successful PSV business without falling foul of the regulatory bodies. He appeared to decide which rules he was going to follow and which he was not going to bother with. That was illustrated by his cavalier attitude to financial standing. He did not like the legal requirements, so he circumvented them.
Mr James had attempted to deceive him by producing documentation he hoped would be believed as a valid factoring agreement. He had obscured and delayed producing evidence of financial standing and that was calculated. It was clear that the requisite financial standing had not been there for a substantial period of time, if at all. He had spun out matter including going through the appeal process.
“The PSV industry will be better off without Michael James,” said the TC.
In copying his decision to the TC in the North West, the TC said that De Luxe Services no longer had a TM and its sole Director had been disqualified. He assumed that licence would be surrendered but if not, he anticipated revocation proceedings.
