Central Haulage Limited & Ors
[2024] UKUT 22 (AAC)
Leafy Designs Ltd
15 May 2023
[2023] UKUT 111 (AAC)
Upper Tribunal
A trucking company cheated by faking paperwork and using an unqualified manager. They got caught, and the government took away their license and banned the bosses from working in the trucking business for a while.
Key Facts
- •Leafy Designs Ltd's (the Operator) international goods vehicle operator's licence was revoked.
- •The Operator's directors, Mr Umarji and Mr Patel, were disqualified from holding operator's licences for two and one year respectively.
- •The Traffic Commissioner (STC) found the Operator and its directors had engaged in dishonest practices.
- •These practices involved a sham arrangement with a transport manager who did not fulfill his duties, and the falsification of documents submitted to the DVSA.
- •The DVSA's desk-based assessment revealed significant vehicle maintenance and organisational issues.
- •The STC held a two-day public inquiry (PI) to investigate these issues.
- •Despite improvements made after the first PI, the STC found the dishonesty to be serious enough to warrant revocation and disqualification.
Legal Principles
An applicant for or holder of a licence must be of good repute.
Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Act 1995, Section 13A(2)(b)
A traffic commissioner may revoke, suspend or curtail a licence for various reasons including contravening licence conditions, issuing of fixed penalty notices, false statements, unfulfilled undertakings, and material change of circumstances.
Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Act 1995, Section 26
A traffic commissioner shall revoke a standard licence if the licence holder no longer satisfies the requirements of Section 13A.
Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Act 1995, Section 27(1)(a)
A traffic commissioner can disqualify a licence holder from holding an operator's licence.
Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Act 1995, Section 28(1)
The Upper Tribunal has full jurisdiction to hear and determine matters of law or fact, but will not rehear all the evidence.
Schedule 4 to the Transport Act 1985 (as amended), paragraph 17; Bradley Fold Travel Ltd & Anor v Secretary of State for Transport [2010] EWCA Civ 695
There are degrees of dishonesty; an evaluation of its nature, substance and extent is necessary before deciding regulatory action.
R v Barton and Booth [2020] EWCA Crim 575; Ivey v Genting Casinos (UK) Ltd [2017] UKSC 67
Outcomes
Appeal dismissed.
The Upper Tribunal upheld the STC's decision to revoke the licence and disqualify the directors due to serious dishonesty concerning the sham transport manager arrangement and falsification of documents.