TC refuses licence bid to firm that had been ‘run in a highly unsatisfactory manner’
Studley-based Amber Crystal Cars has lost its bid for a new two-vehicle restricted licence after failing to produce tachograph records showing that its two minibuses had not been used since January.
The firm had admitted using vehicles that were authorised on a licence held by Amber Crystal Cars (Studley) after that company had gone into liquidation on 28 February 2017, when it appeared at a Birmingham Public Inquiry before Traffic Commissioner (TC) Nick Denton.
Evidence was given by Director David Forrester 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 on a journey to Birmingham Airport last August revealed to DVSA that not only was the vehicle being operated under a licence held by a company which no longer existed, but also that its driver was not entitled to drive minibuses for hire or reward and was not using a tachograph on a journey that required its use.
Mr Forrester said that the driver had been asked at the last minute to do the airport run. The driver 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.
Giving the company a week to produce tachograph evidence, the TC indicated that he was not necessarily going to grant a licence even if the tachograph data showed the minibuses had not been used since January.
He 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-scope journeys without using a tachograph [routeone/Court Report/1 May].
In refusing the application, the TC said that despite being given extra time, Mr Forrester was unable to provide any evidence to support his assertion that the minibuses had not been used since January 2019.
The strong suspicion was that those vehicles had in fact been operated.
He was not satisfied that the company had adequate arrangements in place to ensure the observance of the drivers’ hours and tachograph rules.
Mr Forrester had no systems in place to monitor drivers’ hours under the previous licence and had taken no effective steps to persuade him that things would be any different if the application had been granted.
