A football excursion breach led to the revocation of two-vehicle O-Licence and disqualification of Director
Carrying alcohol on a football excursion and arriving only five minutes before the kick-off time has led to the revocation of the two-vehicle International O-Licence held by Erdington-based Midland Self-Drive, and the indefinite disqualification of its sole Director Abid Hussain from holding or obtaining a PSV O-Licence.
The company had been called before Traffic Commissioner (TC) Nick Denton at a Birmingham Public Inquiry (PI) but failed to attend. The TC had refused an offer by the company to surrender its O-Licence.
Holding that the company has lost its repute, the TC said that evidence was presented that Mr Hussain was remiss in taking a last-minute booking to carry passengers to an event which clearly carried a degree of risk.
He did not make any provisions to deal with that risk. He did not inform his driver of who the passengers were to be.
He did not support his driver when informed by the latter that passengers had picked up alcohol en route and had become threatening and abusive.
In addition, the company also lacked, and appeared to have lacked for some time, the required financial standing for a two-vehicle O-Licence.
Making the disqualification order, the TC said that a considerable degree of blame appeared to be attached to Mr Hussain personally for his company’s failure to abide by the Sporting Events (Control of Alcohol etc.) Act 1985 and the contravention of the Senior TC’s guidelines as the coach arrived only five minutes before the scheduled kick-off time, exacerbating the situation.
Mr Hussain’s failure to appear at the PI had prevented him from presenting any mitigating or contrary arguments. While the order of disqualification was an indefinite one, Mr Hussain could request a hearing at which to argue for the disqualification to be time-limited or cancelled.
Turning to the company’s Transport Managers (TMs), the TC said that he had considered the good repute of the then TM Usman Ilyas.
The TC accepted that Mr Ilyas was not aware that football supporters were to be carried that day, although a more inquiring mind would perhaps have elicited that information from Mr Hussain. He warned Mr Ilyas to be more proactive in the future.
A TM’s job did not just consist of reviewing documentation and checking drivers’ hours compliance. The TM was expected to be aware of any issue which might affect future compliance. On balance, he had concluded that Mr Ilyas retained his good repute.
He had also considered the repute of successor TM, for a short time, Junaid Butt.
Mr Butt was also the driver of the coach carrying the football supporters. The TC accepted that he was put in a difficult position by the negligence of his employer and by the aggressive behaviour of his passengers, although he might have done more to avert the problems which occurred.
However, the TC had again concluded that he had retained his good repute.
