Cheltenham-based Richard Saunders was disqualified from holding a PSV O-Licence for 12 months after his one-vehicle restricted licence was revoked by TC Kevin Rooney after admitting at a Bristol Public Inquiry (PI) that he had operated more vehicles than authorised, fabricated O-Licence discs, and altered the licence document.
The TC said that his office had received a report from Gloucestershire County Council alleging that Mr Saunders was operating three contracts using three vehicles, had displayed forged O-Licence discs on two vehicles and had submitted to the council a copy of a restricted PSV O-Licence which purported to authorise the use of four vehicles.
Mr Saunders said that his private hire work had dried up completely during COVID-19 and had not restarted. That had caused him to look for school contracts to fill the void. He had been successful in obtaining one, so applied for more. Revocation of the licence might lead to a personal bankruptcy, and disqualification almost certainly would. The plan was to move to a national O-Licence with his daughter-in-law Sarah Saunders as TM.
In his decision, the TC said that the admissions of operating over authority, displaying manufactured O-Licence discs and altering the licence documentation were very serious indeed. That the latter two acts were done to deceive a local authority and to achieve a commercial advantage over other, law-abiding operators was a strongly aggravating feature. Mr Saunders had finance for the one-vehicle authorised but no more than that. Further aggravating was the apparent condition of the one vehicle known to be in service as identified by the many and serious defects found at MoT.
The early admissions were a mitigating feature and the TC further acknowledged that COVID-19 would have had a very serious impact on the core private hire business. Mr Saunders had held a licence for 12 years and had not previously come on the enforcement radar. However, the deliberate falsifications to operate three times more vehicles than authorised were not offset by the mitigation.
Unfair competition was against the public interest because it encouraged operators to cut corners to remain in business. Cutting corners all too easily led to compromising safe operation. The condition of the vehicle here suggested that corners were indeed cut and that might well be because there were finances for only one vehicle with three in possession. Safety was compromised along with fair competition.
Taken with the falsification of official documents, the TC could not trust Mr Saunders to be compliant in the future.
While noting the severe impact the action he was taking was likely to have on Mr Saunders and his wife, the TC could not step back from it. The falsifications presented to a statutory authority also meant that a period of disqualification was appropriate, although the mitigating features meant that he could set it at a low level.
