The licence held by North Warwickshire Travel, whose sole Director and Transport Manager (TM) is Michael James, is to be revoked on financial grounds by Traffic Commissioner (TC) Nick Jones after the Upper Tribunal had ordered that its revocation by TC Nick Denton be reconsidered.
TC Jones is considering the disqualification of Mr James from holding a PSV O-Licence and acting as a TM. He is to announce his decision in writing at a later date.
Mr James was a director of Acorn Bus & Coach, Vals Bus & Coach, and Tamworth Coach & Bus– all of which have had their licences revoked. In February 2015 he was disqualified from holding or obtaining a PSV O-Licence for 12 months.
Last October, North Warwickshire Travel, trading as Peoples Movers, of Tamworth, with a six-vehicle international licence, had been called to a Birmingham Public Inquiry. At the outset Mr James was not present. Following a phone call, it was understood that Mr James was stuck in traffic and would arrive in 15 minutes. The hearing was adjourned for that period. At the resumption Mr James was still not present but arrived after the TC had made his decision. The TC refused to reopen proceedings [routeone/Court Report/8 November 2017].
The Upper Tribunal said that they had considerable sympathy with TC Denton. However, they felt that he should, at the very least, have heard from Mr James once he had attended the building. It was with reluctance that that they allowed this appeal because the company had failed to produce any reliable evidence of financial standing [routeone/Court Report/28 February].
The TC had said that according to Companies House records, Mr James became a director of De Luxe Coach Services in April 2015. That company’s application was not referred to the TC in the North West.
Mr James said that Companies House records were wrong. It was April 2016 when he became a director of that company.
The TC said that financial evidence had only been submitted 15 minutes before the hearing, which he found very concerning and quite remarkable given Mr James’ history. There was a letter from a finance company saying North Warwickshire could have a loan which it could draw down and that it had been in place since 2016. It had never been drawn down.
Bank statements did not show sufficient finance for one vehicle. The rationale for the original Public Inquiry had been the company’s failure to operate two local services after short notice applications were refused.
Mr James said he had had no choice because of drivers walking out at the beginning of a shift after being paid “sweeteners” by another operator and others just did not turn up. He also said he did not want to run local services anymore and that it would just be with private hire.
Indicating that he would be disqualifying Mr James both as a director and TM, the TC said the only question to consider was the length of the disqualifications. There was an unhappy history over a long period of time. Mr James’ understanding of financial standing was clearly wrong.
