Oldham-based Hamid Arif was granted a new one-vehicle restricted licence after giving an undertaking that he would only operate his minibus on Fridays.
Mr Arif had sought the licence at a Golborne Public inquiry before Traffic Commissioner (TC) Simon Evans.
The TC said that bank statements produced just about met the financial requirement. The main issues were whether or not Mr Arif met the main occupation requirement and how he was going to operate the licence as it seemed to change from letter to letter.
Asked why he wanted the licence, Mr Arif said that his wife was expecting a child and he wanted to spend more time at home.
A friend who operated taxis would give him some minibus work. He was an MoT tester working for a garage in Knutsford so he could maintain the minibus himself.
The garage where he worked was down as his operating centre as there was a lot of parking space there. He would probably advertise his services around the Oldham area. He would undertake airport runs, stag and hen does, football trips and runs to Chester Zoo.
If he obtained the licence, his annual salary would change as he would reduce his MoT testing work to four days a week.
After the TC had commented that meant that he would be working 80% of what he was working now yet the salary figure put forward was not 20% less, Mr Arif said that it was the figure he had agreed with his boss.
Asked whether he had got a business plan, Mr Arif said that he had obtained earning figures from other minibus and taxi owners. He could only give an estimate of what he would be charging and he only intended to operate on Fridays. He could not work weekends as he would need to get sufficient rest.
The TC said that it seemed a lot of effort for little reward and the temptation would be to also work on Saturdays and Sundays.
Mr Arif said he was not prepared to break the law. He would like to earn £125 a day on Fridays. His overall earnings would depend upon how many journeys he did in a day. As a rough estimate he would get £40 for a trip from Oldham to the airport.
Asked about costings, Mr Arif said that because of some previous convictions, the insurance would be £3,700 a year which he would pay monthly.
The fuel for the trip to the airport would be about £10. He was just going off other people’s quotes – he had not sat down and thought it out.
He was not prepared to accept minibus contracts that would take his PSV earnings higher than his main occupation as they would be short term while he could rely upon his main occupation for stability.
Granting the licence subject to the undertaking, the TC said that he accepted that with Friday-only operation Mr Arif would earn less with his PSV operation than with his main occupation.
