The 19-vehicle O-Licence held by Baslow-based Henry Hulley and Sons has been revoked with immediate effect and the company and its sole director Alfred Crofts have been disqualified from holding or obtaining a PSV O-Licence for two years by Traffic Commissioner (TC) David Mullan.
In addition, Mr Mullan ordered the operator to pay a penalty of £6,650 for failing to operate stage carriage services in accordance with their registered timetables.
Henry Hulley and Sons ceased operating on 26 March after the appointment of an insolvency practitioner.
It was called to a Public Inquiry (PI) over a failure to comply with the requirement to notify the TC’s office within 28 days of changes to listed directors; a failure to comply with an undertaking for an independent audit and concerns as a result of the audit that eventually took place, it being found that arrangements for maintenance of vehicles were inadequate; failures to operate local bus services in accordance with the timetable; a failure to provide data relating to timetabling, fares and vehicle location; and concern over whether it had appropriate financial standing.
A Bus Operator Account Management report was produced following four days of monitoring of local services between 17 November 2023 and 17 January 2024. Two of the company’s 13 live services were subject to that exercise.
It covered 31 journeys and concluded that 10 failed to operate, two were observed to be early, and one was observed to be late to provide an overall non-compliance rate of 41% and thus a performance rate of 59% against the 95% target. TC Mullan found that a penalty of £350 per authorised vehicle was justified and proportionate
When the company first came before him on 4 March, Matthew Smales had been added as a director on 7 November 2024. That change was not notified to the TC’s office within the 28 days required.
Mr Mullan was surprised to learn at the reconvened PI on 10 June that on 5 March, less than 24 hours after the initial hearing, Mr Smales was removed as a director. As before, that change was not notified. Mr Mullan therefore considered that he was misled through omission.
On 4 March, the TC had found that the company no longer continued to meet the requirement to be of appropriate financial standing. He granted a period of grace until 12 June for the shortcoming to be remedied.
During the reconvened hearing, he was provided with what Mr Crofts set out as the reasons for the business becoming unviable and advice to Mr Crofts from his accountants on 15 March to close the business.
Mr Mullan was informed that the company had gone into voluntary liquidation. Furthermore, he considered the failure to make him aware of the change to directors during the PI timeline to be a breach of trust.
The TC concluded that, regardless of the ongoing insolvency, this was not an operator that could comply with the O-Licensing regime. He felt that immediate revocation was justified and proportionate, as it would not affect lawful operations due to the business not currently trading.
Making the disqualification orders, TC Mullan said that he made no distinction between the failures of the company and Mr Crofts as its sole director. He had lost trust in them both.
