Operator ‘had made a horrible and ghastly mistake’ by lending disc to Express Motors, says TC
Pwllheli-based Nefyn Coaches, who lent licence discs in January to Caernarfon-based Express Motors, after its licences had been revoked at the end of December, has had its licence cut from 15 vehicles to 10 for nine weeks by Traffic Commissioner (TC) Nick Jones after being satisfied that the company had been unaware that it was illegal.
The company appeared before the TC at a Welshpool Public Inquiry (PI).
Traffic Examiner Nia Lloyd said that she received allegations that Express Motors had taken a coach load of football supporters to matches on 5 and 13 January, with it being said that Express Motors borrowed a licence disc off Nefyn Coaches.
She spoke to Director and Transport Manager (TM) Aled Owen who confirmed he had lent a disc to Express Motors but said he had not realised that it was an offence. He explained that he was contacted by Ian Jones who had asked to borrow a licence disc to do a football trip.
He also confirmed that Express Motors was being paid for the work, that it was Express Motors’ driver, that Express Motors was insuring the bus and that, to date, Nefyn Coaches had not received any money for the work done. He said that Nefyn Coaches was not the user of the vehicle, and that it had nothing to do with arranging the journeys or giving the drivers their instructions.
She said that the company had co-operated fully with DVSA and that Mr Owen had admitted straight away what he had done. She did not believe that the disc had been lent knowing that it was an offence.
The TC said that Express Motors could not have operated if it had not been lent a disc and that the loaning of a disc was a serious matter.
Ian Jones had been disqualified in September for falsifying maintenance records [routeone/Court Report/6 September 2017], so he was not a director or partner in Express Motors in January.
On the positive, overall the company was regarded as a good operator and a recent monitoring exercise by Buses Cymru had shown a 100% timetable compliance.
After Mr Owen had said that he had not known that Express Motors licences had been revoked at the time, though he had known they were in trouble, the TC said that nearly everybody in North Wales knew because of the publicity it had been given. He pointed out that as director and TM, Mr Owen ought to have known better.
In his decision in cutting the licence until 1 June, the TC said that loaning a disc was exceptionally serious and could lead to licence revocation. He thought that, and the suspension of the licence, would be too severe in this case. There were significant positive features, including the fact that Mr Owen had gone on a TM’s refresher course prior to the PI. The company was not a bad operator but had made a horrible and ghastly mistake. There were plenty of rogues out there, but Nefyn Coaches was not one of them.
