Whitehaven-based Fye’s Executive Travel is to have its five-vehicle national licence revoked, due to vehicle maintenance problems, lack of finance, and operation without a Transport Manager (TM) since September.
At the outset of a Golborne Public Inquiry, Traffic Commissioner (TC) Simon Evans said that the financial evidence produced was insufficient for five vehicles. He was aware the company had made an application for a two-vehicle restricted licence.
Sole Director Paula Fye said that she worked full-time in the civil service.
She had set the company up with her husband Donald, who was the general manager. They carried disabled children and adults under contracts with Cumbria County Council. She did all the paperwork and looked after the employment of drivers.
In the last 12 months things had gotten too much for them.
The nominated TM, Stewart Harrison, was very proactive after the licence was granted in 2011.
As things started running smoothly they saw less and less of him. She had had to stop his money to get him to undertake his role.
His visits became sporadic and they started to look at training a new TM in October, but the employee concerned left. Someone was invited for an interview but did not turn up.
The TC said that in a letter Mr Harrison said that in early 2017 he told Mr Fye he was unable to put in the required time because of family reasons, and he should look at getting a new TM. In a subsequent email Mr Harrison said that he had resigned in September.
Mrs Fye said that she approached another operator to provide an external TM and through them had discussions with another individual about that role.
They were given two options: One for that individual to work 12 hours a week, and one for the other operator to take over the whole running of the business.
She went for option one but the other operator then refused to allow the individual to become TM. She felt that the other operator wanted to take over the business without buying it.
The other individual was still helping them out and the other operator was charging them for his time.
Her husband had been ill last year and she had not spent as much time in the business as she should. They had tried to sell the business without success.
She now spent more time with the business and had taken more interest in the mechanical side, though some of it she did not understand.
She felt that she had been very naïve over her responsibilities. She had “buried her head in the sand”.
Going forward they wanted to downgrade to a restricted licence. She was aware that their private hire work needed to earn more than the PSV work.
Indicating that he would issue a written decision revoking the licence, the TC said that he needed to consider repute and how that and the other issues impacted on the application for a restricted licence.
