Newcastle-upon-Tyne based Dial A Bus (ST) escaped with a formal warning after confusion over who was actually operating its vehicles was rectified in the six months between its two appearances before Deputy Traffic Commissioner (DTC) Gillian Ekins.
The firm first came before the DTC in August 2017. The DTC adjourned the hearing at that stage to enable it to obtain legal representation after evidence was given by then-Director Punjy Malik Iqbal that it was working for Red Line Taxis, now known as Richmond Taxis, which he owned.
Mr Iqbal indicated that he would resign from Dial A Bus. At the same time, concern over finance led to the company voluntarily reducing the licence authorisation to three vehicles.
When the hearing resumed, the DTC said that Mr Iqbal had resigned last August but the Traffic Area Office had not been notified despite her pointing out that it was necessary to do so. She was also disappointed that there had been an unsatisfactory maintenance investigation in November.
For the company, James Backhouse said that it derived the majority of its work from Richmond Taxis, an “associated business” in that it was owned by Mr Iqbal, who was the sole shareholder in Dial A Bus.
The drivers were employed by Dial A Bus. Consequently, that company was the correct entity to hold the PSV O-Licence. Following the last hearing, the bank accounts were separated out. Previously the two firms had been treated as one in an “informal group”, which it was not.
Sole Director and Transport Manager (TM) George Weir said that the company operated three minibuses. Ultimately the drivers took their instructions from him and he paid them. If they had any doubts they contacted him.
All the minibuses were in the Dial A Bus livery and Mr Iqbal did not get involved in the day-to-day running of the company, but they met every couple of weeks or so to discuss how the business was going.
The drivers collected the money from the passengers and it was paid into the Dial A Bus account. He did not pay Richmond Taxis any commission. If passengers paid Richmond Taxis by credit card when booking through an app, Richmond Taxis gave the driver the cash equivalent. Since the last hearing, the drivers had received tachograph compliance training and he had been on a TM refresher course.
Mr Backhouse said that Mr Weir was now monitoring things more closely. The business was an adjunct to, and had developed out of, the taxi business. It had been run in a bit of an amateurish way in relation to the financial accounts. Mr Weir understood the issues on the last occasion and set about meeting the concerns over finance and driver management.
Taking no action other than to issue the warning, the DTC said that because of the delay in relisting the case, Mr Weir had been given time to make the requisite changes and she was satisfied that he had done that. She did not think that the intention had been to defeat the system.
