The illegal operation of bus services in North Wales and vehicle maintenance issues led to Traffic Commissioner (TC) Nick Jones indicating that he is to revoke the licences held by Shrewsbury-based The Skiers Lodge, trading as TSL and Express Airport Transport (Europe), and refuse an application for a licence by Rosymedre-based TSL (Wales).
The TC also indicated he was proposing to disqualify sole Director of the three companies, Andrew Martin, from holding a PSV O-Licence for a period and from acting as a Transport Manager (TM) until he passes a fresh examination.
The TC was considering action against the 10-vehicle international licence of The Skiers Lodge, the 13-vehicle international licence of Express Airport Transfers (Europe) and an application for a new 20-vehicle international licence by TSL (Wales), reduced to five vehicles at the hearing.
The TC said that he would not be considering allegations made by a former TM, Steven Bryce, and former Assistant TM Paul Jones as they were matters for civil litigation and possibly the police.
Multiple prohibitions
Vehicle Examiner (VE) Mark Williams said that an investigation commenced following the issue of multiple prohibitions within a 16-month period and to confirm that there was an unauthorised operating centre at Rosymedre.
When the Rosymedre premises were visited, five vehicles were being prepared for work. Of the five vehicles inspected only two were free of defects. There was a noticeable lack of large workshop equipment.
Since March 2017 nine immediate and three delayed prohibitions had been issued. Mr Martin claimed that company vehicles had been the target of sabotage.
On 19 July he was informed by a concerned member of the public that a wheel loss had occurred on the A483 the previous evening. That had not been reported to DVSA.
The driver, Nicola Benson, had said that she had repeatedly reported smoke coming from the rear nearside hub and had eventually refused to drive the vehicle. The vehicle was repaired and returned to her on 18 July straight from the workshop. She reported a rumbling noise from the rear and she was asked if she could limp the vehicle back to the depot, but the wheel became detached.
Attempts to undermine
The VE first became aware of The Skiers Lodge when a vehicle caught fire and was severely damaged at Wrexham Central Train Station in February 2017.
A prohibition was imposed on a 16-seater minibus after the rear seats had been removed creating three dangerous defects.
When the vehicle was re-inspected by Senior VE Martin Garlick the following day he found that some of the items had been altered in an attempt to undermine the prohibition. He had seen very few inspection records. He denied that he “had been groomed” by the former TM resulting in his evidence being biased.
Hired vehicles
Traffic Examiner Sarah O’Brien said that she commenced an investigation after The Skiers Lodge registered four bus services in the Wrexham area.
During the course of a check at Wrexham Bus Station three vehicles were seen liveried as “Easy Coach”, which were displaying Skiers Lodge licence discs and TSL (Wales) legal lettering.
The drivers confirmed they started and ended their duties at Rhosymedre. Later in the day she and her colleagues travelled to Llangollen. As they were inspecting vehicles a driver of an Easy Coach vehicle returned from his break. He said that he had reported for duty at Shrewsbury and was asked to attend Rosymedre to collect a vehicle and carry out service work on the Llangollen route.
He confirmed that at the end of his duty he would leave the vehicle at Rosymedre before returning to Shrewsbury. It later transpired that one of the vehicles checked at Wrexham was registered as SORN on the DVLA system. A check also revealed that one of the licence discs was void.
Mr Martin said that there was a contract regarding the hire of vehicles from TSL (Wales) to The Skiers Lodge and that company could have temporary access to Rosymedre and that the vehicles would return to Shrewsbury after four weeks as a temporary solution until the Welsh licence was granted. Rosymedre was where the vehicles were maintained. The SORN vehicle was a mistake that was corrected straight away, and he had been unaware of the void licence disc.
After the TC said that to operate in another area without a licence was very serious, Mr Martin accepted that his interpretation had been wrong.
Council complaints
Bus Compliance Officer Nesta Jones said that following complaints from Wrexham Borough Council she carried out surveys of the Llangollen route on 11 days.
Of 75 observations 5% ran early, 7% ran late and 28% failed to operate, leaving some passengers stranded.
A subsequent survey of four services showed 14% of journeys running late and 29% failed to operate. A short notice application was made to cease operating the services on 8 September. Only three of the five services continued to operate until the last day.
‘Malicious activity’
Mr Martin said that he had an unblemished record when he had had complete control until 2016. Problems occurred after he delegated things to the former TM.
The idea had been to move to Wales and take back full control, but, unfortunately, he became ill.
There was a lot of malicious activity and he felt that the wheel loss had been deliberately engineered. He took his eye off the ball and that was why he had ceased operating the services and sought to surrender The Skiers Lodge licence.
All the issues had related to service operation and he would undertake not to operate regular services if the TLC licence was granted.
In indicating that he was to announce his detailed decision in writing at a later date, the TC said that he was unimpressed by the lack of professionalism. It was clear that Mr Martin had not kept up with transport law.
