Suspension comes after issues with Driver CPC and numerous failures to record time spent travelling
The six-vehicle international licence held by Walsall-based JKT International was suspended for four days by Traffic Commissioner (TC) Nick Denton, after the Director’s son was caught driving after his Driver CPC qualification card had expired.
The company, of Pelsall, Walsall, had been called before the TC at a Birmingham Public Inquiry.
Traffic Examiner (TE) Robert Lees had reported that when one of the company’s vehicles was subject to a check on 18 October Driver Ahvais Musawar’s CPC qualification had expired on 28 September.
A subsequent analysis of tachograph records revealed that on 17 occasions drivers had failed to record time spent travelling to or from the company’s premises at either the start or end of a driving duty.
It was likely that the level of non-compliance was greater than the 17 instances detected where analogue tachographs were used, as the digital vehicle unit did not provide any record of where driving periods started or ended.
In addition there were two daily rest offences. It appeared that the company and drivers might have misunderstood the requirements relating to multi-manning. Two drivers drove in excess of four and a half hours without taking the required breaks.
The TC said that the Driver CPC matter was the most concerning, together with the fact that neither the company nor the drivers understood the rules in relation to other work.
He suspended Mr Musawar’s vocational PSV driving licence for three weeks after hearing that he had not undertaken the required training within five years of obtaining his qualification card.
Director and Transport Manager (TM) Jawed Akhtar said that he had employed a consultant to train the drivers and himself about six weeks ago to improve management of the drivers’ hours.
There was now a computerised system and a wall chart showing when ongoing training and driving licences, CPC qualification cards and digital cards were due for renewal.
Mr Musawar was his son and the fact that his training had not occurred in the required time was overlooked due to a family bereavement.
He had reminded him about five weeks before his CPC was due to expire that he needed to undertake the training. The positioning journeys would not have taken the drivers concerned over the 15-hour spread over limit.
The TC commented that on two inspection records it was noted that the tachograph calibration was overdue. It was indicative that Mr Akhtar was not as good as he should be at monitoring dates.
Suspending the licence after an undertaking was given that Mr Akhtar would attend a TM’s refresher course before the end of September, the TC said that he accepted that Mr Akhtar did not deliberately flout the law, but allowing his son to drive for three weeks without a valid card was a serious failure. The matter only came to light because of the DVSA check and he suspected that it would have continued but for the check.
