The Tribunal upheld the DTC’s decision after income from operating PSV was found to exceed other sources
The decision of Deputy Traffic Commissioner (DTC) Miles Dorrington to revoke the one-vehicle restricted licence held by Burnley-based Mohammed Akbar, trading as Choudhury Transport, on main occupation and financial grounds, has been upheld by the Upper Tribunal on appeal.
In dismissing the appeal, the Tribunal said that for future guidance, they did not consider that activities such as the pursuit of a hobby, charitable work or other activities which did not generate an income could fall within the definition of ‘occupation’. Neither did they consider that the receipt of investment or other income which did not require the operator to dedicate anything more than a minimal amount of time to it, could be considered to be an ‘occupation’.
The Tribunal said that at the Public Inquiry before the DTC, Mr Akbar said that he had the benefit of a school contract with Lancashire County Council and that he was driving the PSV vehicle for five hours a day. The contract was to come to an end in July 2018 and while he was driving, he paid himself a wage which appeared in the Choudhury Transport accounts as having been paid to a driver, which was him.
He was, however, looking for a driver to drive the vehicle so that he could return to his ‘own job’ with Bubble Transport, which represented full time employment and which would be his main occupation once he had returned to it. He did not undertake any other work with the PSV vehicle apart from the school contract work.
As for his weekend work with Red Rose Travel, he was paid £8 per hour for shifts of varying lengths on Saturdays and Sundays, and in addition he had the rental income from a property in Manchester.
Bank statements produced by Mr Akbar did not show an average of £3,100 over the previous three months. He said he could borrow money from his wife or brother but did not produce the requisite statutory declarations or evidence that funds would be available to him.
He indicated that some of the rental payments he received from his property were in fact cash payments which were not included in his accounts. The DTC advised that they could not be taken into account unless they appeared in his financial records.
In revoking the licence, the DTC said that it was clear that the income Mr Akbar received from operating the PSV exceeded the income he obtained from other sources. Further, Mr Akbar had failed to establish that he was of the appropriate financial standing.
Dismissing the appeal, the Tribunal said that they could not fault The DTC’s findings that Mr Akbar’s ‘main occupation’ was that of the PSV licence operation, and that Mr Akbar did not meet the financial standing requirement to hold a restricted licence.
