The owner of St Leonard’s-based Barcroft Coaches, Peter Warren, has been banned from driving a PSV for four years due to what Deputy Traffic Commissioner (DTC) John Baker says is an “inherent and serious risk to public safety.”
He ruled that Mr Warren “cannot be trusted” and Barcrofts Coaches “deserves to be put out of business” due to serious non-compliance and fraudulent activities of drivers.
Mr Warren’s actions – including one occasion where he had been on duty for up to 22 hours – amounted to a “serious risk to public safety.”
The firm, which holds a three-vehicle O-Licence, has been banned from 1 December. The O-Licence-holder, sole trader Catherine Barcroft, was ruled not to be in charge of the business, and a ‘front’ for Mr Warren, who made key decisions and dealt with the finances.
She is banned from holding an O-Licence, while Transport Manager (TM) John Crosbie-Barcroft is banned from PSV driving for a year, and indefinitely as a TM.
The Public Inquiry also heard that Mr Warren made false tacho records, disconnected the tachograph clock, and only took a 4 1/4 hours rest in one instance, on shopping day trips to Belgium.
Evidence from ANPR (automatic number plate recognition) cameras and records from P&O Ferries proved that the coach was not where Mr Warren’s false records claimed it was.
Says the DTC: “He carried out fraudulent actions with tachograph records over months and compounded those actions by putting forward different false explanations when interviewed.
“Even when he did admit the offences he attempted to minimise the seriousness by claiming no passengers were on board when he drove in excess of his daily hours.”
Find out more: Full details in a forthcoming Court Report
