The 19-vehicle international O-Licence held by Newent-based George Young’s Coaches has been revoked by Traffic Commissioner (TC) Nick Denton after a Birmingham Public Inquiry (PI).
In addition, Mr Denton disqualified Directors Kevin Young and Gwendoline Young from holding or obtaining a PSV O-Licence for three years. Gwendoline Young and Edward Berry were both further disqualified from acting as a Transport Manager (TM) indefinitely.
At a previous PI in September 2018 the licence was suspended for seven days. Undertakings were given that Mrs Young would step down as TM by 31 October 2018; that a new TM would be nominated by 5 November 2018; and that roller brake tests would be carried out every 12 weeks.
The TC said that but for those undertakings, the licence would not have survived on the last occasion.
Mr Berry was nominated as TM by 5 November 2018, but nothing was submitted until April 2019. The document submitted was not a contract. It was merely a signed agreement. Mr Berry did not act as TM during that period and Mrs Young did not step down.
On 9 May at a school bus check, a Gloucestershire County Council engineer found numerous serious defects on one of the company’s vehicles. They included exhaust fumes and water entering the interior.
The declared inspection period was eight weeks. One vehicle that had gone 21 weeks between inspections was said to be off the road, yet there were 36 driver defect reports during that period. Some of the inspection records were showing 30-40 defects.
Mr Young agreed with the TC’s comments that the records were “pure fiction”.
Making the revocation and disqualification orders, the TC said that financial evidence showed a figure considerably short of the £88,000 required to support a licence of 19 vehicles.
The company was dependent on selling several vehicles to raise enough funds to support the licence. The valuation of the vehicles was unlikely to be realised within a four-week period, according to a coach sales company.
If George Young’s Coaches was relying on those vehicles, it should have sold some of them already in order to realise the necessary funds.
Mr Young failed to fulfil the undertaking he gave in September 2018 to appoint a new TM. He simply went through the motions of appointing someone but never took any steps to ensure that the person actually carried out the role in practice.
Mr Young knew that was not what was required. That was why he attempted to hide Mr Berry’s absence from both the TC and a Vehicle Examiner (VE).
Mrs Young connived in that attempt to evade the undertakings given at the September 2018 PI. Mr Denton took account of the subsequent failure to effectively address the shortcomings in vehicle maintenance and condition.
The TC noted that Mr Young had previously express an intention at the September 2018 PI of qualifying as a TM. All that happened subsequently, in October 2018, was that he emailed the TC’s office to ask if he could be accepted as a TM under acquired rights. That had not been possible for the past eight years.
The VE’s perusal of maintenance records showed that roller brake tests were not being carried out every 12 weeks. That was contrary to the undertaking given at the September 2018 PI.
Because of their personal responsibility for the failure to heed the requirements of that PI, the TC concluded that Kevin and Gwendoline Young should be disqualified from holding a PSV O-Licence.
In disqualifying Edward Berry and Gwendoline Young from acting as a TM, Mr Denton said that they both held the TM qualification by virtue of acquired rights. They had never taken a CPC examination – or in Mrs Young’s case, ever undertaken any formal training.
In the TC’s judgment, neither possessed the competence or knowledge that was expected of a modern day, competent and reliable TM.
