Bolton-based Haroon Shamim has succeeded at his third attempt to specify a replacement Transport Manager (TM) on his licence after appearing at a Golborne Public Inquiry.
Mr Shamim, with a three-vehicle national licence, had been called before Deputy Traffic Commissioner (DTC) Jayne Salt to consider the nomination of a new TM, Martin Hulton, on the licence.
For Mr Shamim, Simon Newman said that he had previously held a restricted licence, which was revoked at the same time as a number of others belonging to other family members [routeone/Court Report/3 August 2016].
The current licence, with an Andrew Goodier as TM, was granted in February 2017 [routeone/Court Report/1 March 2017].
The intention was for Mr Shamim to pass the TM CPC examination himself. He had taken the it on a number of occasions without success and was due to take it again the following month.
Terence McNulty became his TM in 2017 with the intention of helping Mr Shamim pass the CPC examination. Unfortunately, Mr McNulty passed away in September 2017.
Mr Shamim was granted a three-month grace period to obtain a new TM and, in December 2017, he applied for Mr Goodier to be re-appointed.
That application had to be withdrawn because Mr Goodier had failed to appreciate the restriction on the number of licences on which he could be the nominated TM.
Mr Shamim immediately applied to have Mohammed Tahzeem appointed as TM but that application was refused in March because of Mr Tahzeem’s failure to disclose a number of convictions he had sustained.
Mr Shamim then applied for Mr Hulton to be his TM. Mr Hulton had been assisting Mr Shamim without payment so far and they wished to formalise what was a temporary arrangement for a very small operation.
Agreeing that he had been without a TM since September 2017, Mr Shamim said that he had since carried out the role himself. He had ensured the vehicles were maintained, no prohibitions had been issued and there was a 100% pass rate at annual test.
He was operating two vehicles, driving one himself and employing one driver. He had passed the multiple-choice part of the CPC exam. He struggled with the other part, but he was not going to give up. Once he passed he would become his own TM.
The DTC said that Mr Hulton had to demonstrate he could have effective control of three licences when he was contracted as a driver for 30 hours a week.
Mr Hulton said that he had agreed to become Mr Shamim’s TM as it appeared to be a well-run operation and that he had been helping on an informal basis. The other licences were only half a mile from Mr Shamim’s premises. He had long periods of down time when working as a driver and he would help Mr Shaman to try and get though the exam, which was difficult for minibus operators with no experience of international work – something they had no intention of doing.
After the DTC said there was an issue with Mr Hulton’s regulatory history, Mr Newman said the adverse history had been a very long time ago had he had been granted a further O-Licence in 2008 which was surrendered in 2011.
Mr Hulton said that he had put his company into receivership and surrendered the licence. He had never lost his repute as a TM.
Granting the application for Mr Hulton to become Mr Shamim’s TM required a number of undertakings in relation to maintenance putting on the licence.
