Bolton-based Patrick Kenyon has to wait to see whether he succeeds in obtaining a licence after operating on a licence held by his domestic partner.
Traffic Commissioner (TC) Simon Evans is considering action against the one-vehicle restricted licence held by Barbara Henning and an application for a new six-vehicle international licence by Patrick Kenyon, trading as New Future Travel.
Ms Henning did not attend a Golborne Public Inquiry as she wished to surrender her licence.
Mr Kenyon said that he first came into contact with PSV work with MDS Minibuses (Manchester) which was struggling financially.
He stepped in to help and agreed to become a director, so the firm could open a bank account. He did not hold any shares and he resigned once the company was standing on its own two feet. He then obtained his PSV driving licence and he entered a personal relationship with Ms Henning.
He made an application for a restricted licence, as did Ms Henning. His application was refused as he could not meet the main occupation criteria.
Ms Henning’s licence was granted in June 2015. A vehicle was specified on the licence at the end of 2016 and started operating a school contract in January 2017. He was the driver and the vehicle displayed her licence disc.
As they were living together it seemed silly for him to invoice her and for her to invoice MDS Minibuses, which had sub-contracted the contract. They had not realised at the time that that was the wrong way to do it.
He had taken the Transport Manager’s CPC course as it was always his intention to have a national licence. He had never wanted to operate on a restricted licence but he was advised that to get going he should apply for one.
He only wanted to operate a couple of 16-seaters on a standard licence. He wanted to break away from doing a school contract for someone else who took a large percentage of the funds. His other driver would be a director of MDS.
The maintenance contract was in Ms Henning’s name, but he paid for it. He also paid for the vehicle tax and insurance. He was aware that there had been an undertaking that Ms Henning attend a new operator’s seminar within 90 days of her licence grant.
He attended instead after another operator told her she could send a representative. He knew MDS did not hold an O-Licence. It did not have any vehicles and it sub-contracted everything. They were still operating the school contract but Ms Henning was now invoicing for it.
The TC said that when Ms Henning’s licence was granted she had said that Mr Kenyon would have no role in the business apart from occasionally driving. There were concerns that she was “a front” for Mr Kenyon.
The TC is to announce his decision in writing at a future date.
