Shrewsbury-based David Davies, trading as Wem Daves Transport, was disqualified from holding or obtaining a PSV O-Licence for three years after his one-vehicle restricted was revoked by Traffic Commissioner (TC) Nick Denton following a Birmingham Public Inquiry.
Traffic Examiner Marianne Hyde gave evidence that on 20 December 2017 a 16-seater minibus, driven by David Davies’s brother, Colin Davies, was checked at Ludlow Racecourse.
Colin Davies’ driving entitlement did not permit him to drive vehicles on hire or reward work. He stated that his Driver CPC (DCPC) card was at home, but it later transpired that he did not have a DCPC at all. He was not using a tachograph.
The vehicle held a class 5 MOT for private vehicles rather than the required PSV MoT certificate and the licence disc in the windscreen was a photocopy.
Colin Davies denied that he was driving for hire or reward, stating that he was driving some friends to the races. David Davies was also present at the racecourse driving an eight- seater private hire vehicle.
She put to him that an entry in his diary for that day appeared to be evidence that a hire or reward trip was being undertaken. He replied that the eight-seater driven by him was being charged for but that the 16-seater was being provided free of charge.
David Davies told the TC that the passengers had been conveyed to the racecourse in two eight-seater vehicles: His own and one run by another operator to whom he had sub-contracted the work. The 16-seater had been used by Colin to bring his friends. He had lost his original disc in a fire and had used a photocopy of the disc thereafter. He had not got around to applying for a new one.
Making the revocation and disqualification orders, the TC said that he concluded that the 16-seater minibus was being operated for hire or reward on 20 December 2017.
The claim that the customers had paid £400 to hire the eight-seater and that he had provided the 16-seater free of charge was, frankly, risible.
Clearly the charge covered the hire of both vehicles. He was equally unpersuaded by the claim that the hire was for two eight-seater vehicles and that he had brought in a sub-contractor to operate the second vehicle.
Colin Davies has driven on a number of occasions for hire or reward, not only on 20 December 2017. Customer reviews refer both to Dave and Colin and one review refers to both Dave and Colin driving, making Mr Davies’s explanation that he used both names highly improbable.
There was no evidence to suggest that David Davies had been operating more vehicles than he was entitled to. However, his photocopying of a disc was a serious offence and there was no excuse for not getting around, for more than a year, to applying for a replacement disc for the one that was lost in a fire.
