In cutting the licence held by Oldham-based Stotts Tours from 40 vehicles to 31, Traffic Commissioner (TC) Simon Evans said that it marked his disappointment as a regulator of the bus industry as it had become the first company to be prosecuted over workplace pensions.
The firm had been called before the TC at a Golborne Public Inquiry.
In February, Brighton Magistrates fined the company £27,000 with £7,400 costs and a £120 victim surcharge after admitting eight offences of failing to arrange workplace pensions for its staff.
Director and Transport Manager (TM) Alan Stott Junior was fined £4,455 with £154 costs and a £120 victims surcharge on eight corresponding offences. In addition, the company has to pay escalating civil enforcement penalties of £14,400 for failing to comply with the law in regard to automatic enrolment. It also had to pay £9,088 in backdated pension payments [routeone/News/29 November 2017 and 14 February].
For the company and Mr Stott, Laura Hadzik said that Mr Stott was prosecuted as he was the Managing Director and was responsible for the payroll at the relevant time. It was not a case of him deliberately choosing not to make the arrangements, but it was due to his neglect in meeting the deadlines.
In 2016 the office management staff was very thin and Mr Stott was assisted by very few personnel in the office. Since the issues in 2016 and 2017, two part-time staff members who were assisting Mr Stott had since become full-time. All the dealings with HMRC and pensions had been outsourced out to a firm of accountants.
The management structure was being reviewed. Stephen’s daughter Alison was joining the company in August and would obtain her TM’s CPC and would then be nominated as an additional TM.
Mr Stott had been somewhat confused about the deadline date, thinking it was June 2016 rather than June 2015. There had been a genuine lack of understanding over what he was required to do over automatic enrolment, believing that it would be done by the pension company. The wrong had now been righted and there were workplace pensions in place.
Mr Stott said that he had tried to keep up with the pensions paperwork but there came a point when he could not spend the time to get it up to date. It had not registered with him how workplace pensions were going to work. At the time he had too many things to do. “I buried my head in the sand and I shouldn’t have done,” he said. “I was thinking of money and what it was going to cost me.”
After the TC said: “So, finance is at the bottom of this,” Mr Stott replied: “Not really.” He added: “I just could not find the time to do it. As time went on it got more and more difficult.”
In his decision, the TC said the company had previously a very positive track record. The steps taken, with a pension scheme now in place and back payments made, gave him some confidence that a failure in responsibility was unlikely to be repeated.
