The sole Director and Transport Manager (TM) of Oldham-based Ellenbrook Travel and Nix Coaches, Mark Walsh, was disqualified indefinitely from acting as a TM when the three- vehicle national licence held by each company was revoked by Traffic Commissioner (TC) Simon Evans.
The TC also disqualified Ellenbrook from holding or obtaining a PSV O-Licence indefinitely.
The two firms and Mr Walsh had been called before the TC at a Golborne Public Inquiry but failed to attend.
The TC said that a licence held by Peter Vincent Walsh and Partners, of which Mr Walsh had been a partner, was revoked on financial grounds in 2015.
Ellenbrook was the subject of a maintenance investigation in June when it was found that some maintenance records were just lined pieces of paper with defects written on them.
Other maintenance records were not fully completed.
Inspection frequencies had been stretched on several occasions, there were no records available for a previously owned vehicle and the last record for another vehicle was in November 2017. The forward planner did not show the required dates.
No driver defect reporting system was in use and the specified maintenance provider was not being used. There was also no evidence that vehicles had brake performance tests and an immediate prohibition was imposed for a serious tyre defect.
In March 2017, an offence prohibition and fixed penalty notice was issued for a failure to produce drivers’ hours documents and a driver was found with no evidence of the CPC qualification.
Only limited information of driver scheduling was available to the Traffic Examiner. There was no evidence of any system for the return, analysis and storage of tachograph records. There were gaps in the records and there was no evidence of compliance with the Working Time Directive.
In relation to Nix, accounts for it as a dormant company for the financial year to 31 January 2018 had been filed at Companies House. That was inconsistent with one of the company’s vehicles being stopped in May 2017 at Haydock racecourse when it would appear the business was actively trading.
The lack of readiness to appear before the TC did nothing to provide any assurance that the major changes necessary had been made and could be sustained.
Mr Walsh had direct responsibility for the significantly non-compliant arrangements. It was patently the case he had not exercised continuous and effective management of the transport operations.
While the TC noted from the file that there were health conditions, poor health could not be an excuse for a wholesale failure to comply with the licence undertakings.
If an operator or TM was too ill to carry out their responsibilities, they should surrender the licence or notify the position and disclose the arrangements put in place to provide cover.
