The bid is to be reconsidered after the Upper Tribunal found that the TC had given inadequate reasons for her findings
A bid for a new two-vehicle national licence by Ross Munro and Helen Pettigrew, trading as Livingston Travel, which was originally turned down by Traffic Commissioner (TC) Joan Aitken, is to be reconsidered by a different TC following the partner’s appeal against TC Aitken’s decision.
In refusing the application, the TC said that Mr Munro was warned by letter in February 2015 that he didn’t have an O-Licence and could not get one from another party. Yet it was now clear that he and Andrew Liddle had made an arrangement whereby Mr Munro had taken over a shuttle run contract which required an O-Licence and disc and that the disc came from Mr Liddle. She did not find Mr Munro to be credible or trustworthy. She was not satisfied that he had repute and therefore the partnership could not have a licence.
She made no adverse finding against Ms Pettigrew. There was no evidence that she was party to the arrangement or instrumental in its inception or continuation. She was a novice to transport matters.
Allowing the appeal, and directing that the application be reconsidered, the Upper Tribunal said that the TC gave inadequate reasons for her finding that Mr Munro lacked credibility.
For the same reason, the TC gave inadequate reasons for her finding that Mr Munro was not credible. The evidence, including the ‘warning’ in the February 2015 letter, did not speak for itself so as to compel the conclusion that Mr Munro was neither credible nor trustworthy. The documentary evidence did not necessarily imply that Mr Munro set out deliberately to circumvent the licensing regime.
The question remained as to whether Mr Munro had made an honest mistake as to the nature of the warning contained in the February 2015 letter. Such a mistake would not turn an unlicensed operation into a licensed operation, but it would bear on the credibility of Mr Munro’s evidence and his trustworthiness. That point was not addressed in the TC’s reasons.
The TC made no definite finding as to the suitability of the proposed Transport Manager to act as the operation’s TM, and left open the question whether the operation had sufficient financial standing. These were matters that should be addressed by a TC who might be better placed to decide on the effectiveness of licence conditions where licensing concerns exist but are not sufficient to justify refusing a licence.
