Salman Chohan, who acted as a Transport Manager (TM) on three O-Licences, including that of Manchester-based Sumi Travel, whose sole Director was his brother, Sumair Chohan, has been disqualified from acting as such for 12 months by Traffic Commissioner (TC) Gerallt Evans. The TC also cut Sumi Travel’s O-Licence from three vehicles to two, and suspended it for a period of 14 days. It was given a period of grace to obtain a new TM.
The TC said that a maintenance inspection visit was undertaken by DVSA Vehicle Examiner Alan Chan. He made several unsatisfactory and troubling findings. These included the fact that inspection records appeared to be incomplete and poorly recorded with some discrepancies calling into question their authenticity.
The vehicles inspected during the visit were in poor condition and both were issued with prohibition notices for multiple defects. It was also noted the vehicles had not been correctly submitted for Class 6 MoT tests as required for their PSV categorisation. The VE expressed concern about the knowledge and degree of control being exercised by Salman Chohan as TM in the light of those findings.
It was clear however that the difficulties were attributable to the failure of Salman Chohan as TM and to the breakdown in communication between the brothers. That amply illustrated the potential risk for operators who relied on family members to discharge compliance related roles such as Director and TM.
The TC found no evidence that Salman Chohan was fulfilling those responsibilities. Salman Chohan accepted that errors were made and that he did not give the appropriate attention to the requirements of the licence. He offered his apologies. However, his evidence was lacking in coherent explanation of why exactly matters had gone so far awry. The TC considered it likely that Salman Chohan’s full-time occupation and other responsibilities as TM for two other O-Licences served as a distraction to his ability to properly discharge his duties. It was also clear that the breakdown in relationship between Salman Chohan and his brother meant that he was not exercising effective and continuous management of the licence.
In relation to the company, he recognised that substantial improvements had been made since April 2022 although there was more to be done. Sumair Chohan as Director persuaded him that he was sincere and committed to his efforts to be more compliant. With some caution, the TC was willing to trust Sumair Chohan and the company to be compliant in future. That was with the reassurance that regulatory action falling short of revocation would serve as sufficient warning to him of future expectations.
