Studley-based Amber Crystal Cars has to wait to see whether its bid for a new two-vehicle restricted licence succeeds after admitting using vehicles that were authorised on a licence held by Amber Crystal Cars (Studley) after that company had gone into liquidation.
Traffic Commissioner (TC) Nick Denton reserved decision on the application by the firm, giving it a week to produce tachograph records showing that its two minibuses had not been used since January.
At the outset of a Birmingham Public Inquiry, the TC said that Amber Crystal Cars (Studley) went into liquidation on 28 February 2017, yet director David Forrester carried on using the minibuses.
PSV O-Licences said in large bold letters that they were not transferable. The Studley company was the licence holder and it was not necessary for Mr Forrester to know much about company law to know that when a company ceased to exist its licence ceased to exist.
Mr Forrester said that prior to 28 February 2017 both companies operated at the same time from the same base, Amber Crystal Cars being a taxi company. They had continued operating the minibuses through naivety. The Studley company had been liquidated through no fault of their own but due to bad accountancy.
The TC said that the stopping of a minibus last August revealed to DVSA what was going on. The driver was not licensed to drive a vehicle for hire or reward and had not been using a tachograph card on a run to Birmingham Airport. It did not fill him with confidence that the company knew what it was doing.
Mr Forrester said that the driver had been asked at the last minute to do the airport run. He had said that when he asked his line manager whether a tachograph was needed, he was told that it was not as it was a journey of less than 50km. It was a mistake made by the office staff. The driver concerned already knew that he could not drive a vehicle for hire or reward. He agreed that there had been no system in place for recording EU drivers’ hours. He said that if a licence was granted, he would go on a course to get it right the second time around. He agreed that the company had been prosecuted for the offences in August, saying that the fines had been paid.
Indicating that he was not necessarily going to grant a licence even if the tachograph data showed the minibuses had not been used since January, the TC said that the Studley company had been run in a highly unsatisfactory manner.
Issues included an unsatisfactory maintenance report. Amber Crystal Cars had carried on using a licence belonging to a company that no longer existed, using an unqualified driver and had operated airport runs and other in-cope journeys without using a tachograph.
