Wolverhampton-based Maya Coaches has to wait to see whether its bid for a new PSV O-Licence, following the revocation of a licence held by Maya Travel, succeeds or not.
The firm had sought a new three-vehicle international licence before Traffic Commissioner (TC) Nick Denton at a Birmingham Public Inquiry. The TC was concerned that the application was a front following his revocation of the Maya Travel licence in September 2017 and the disqualification of Director Avtar Singh Ahir for 12 months.
Director and sole shareholder Pirthi Singh said that Maya Travel had been formed in 2005 by his wife and son, and that he became a director of that company in 2009. That company was called to Public Inquiries in 2012 and October 2013, when its licence was initially revoked [routeone/Court Report/3 December 2013]. He resigned as a director of Maya Travel in November 2013, and he stopped being actively involved in the company apart from acting as a driver.
Maya Coaches was formed in 2013 to hire out vehicles – that was all it had done before applying for a licence. Mr Singh would be doing some of the driving himself, and he had appointed a second Director, Gurdeep Singh Shokar, to help run the business. Mr Shokar had experience managing a wine bar.
The TC said that Mr Singh was driving for Maya Travel between 2013 and 2017. One of the issues was that the driver cards were never downloaded. Mr Singh, as a driver and the father of Mr Ahir, must have known that it was not being done. Mr Singh said that his son used to ask for his driver card. The proposed Transport Manager (TM) Sanu Kapur would be looking after all the drivers’ records.
The TC said that the application form had contained Mr Ahir’s email address as a contact. It was signed by Mr Shokar as a director on 26 September when, according to Companies House, he was not a director at the time. When that was pointed out by the Central Licensing Office Companies House, records were changed on 23 October – backdated to 1 October – appointing Mr Shokar as a director. In addition, Mr Singh was not named as a director in the application form.
Mr Shokar said that he had made a stupid error and he had overlooked Mr Ahir’s email address on the form.
The TC said that he found it difficult to believe it was a simple mistake because, when contacting the Traffic Area, Mr Ahir’s email address was used on three occasions, though two of the messages were signed by Mr Shokar.
Undertakings were given that both directors would undertake a PSV O-Licence awareness course and that Mr Ahir would have nothing to do with the business even as a driver.
Asked about a fuel payment of £360 in the December bank statement, Mr Shokar said that they had just been topping the coach up. It had been stationary for a long time and they started it up to keep it running.
Indicating that he would announce his decision in writing at a future date, the TC said that he required a download from the coach’s digital tachograph producing within 10 days to see whether it had been used since the Maya Travel licence was revoked.
