Safir Shafi (t/a Alltravel Minibuses), Re
[2024] UKUT 298 (AAC)
Millmans Coaches Limited (trading as Grey Cars) & Anor
31 October 2023
[2023] UKUT 264 (AAC)
Upper Tribunal
A bus company's license was taken away because their buses were poorly maintained and unsafe. The person in charge of the maintenance also didn't know enough about fixing them, so they were banned from working in that role for a year. The court agreed with the decision to take away the license.
Key Facts
- •Millmans Coaches Ltd's PSV operator's licence was revoked, and its transport manager, Paul Hamlyn-White (PHW), was disqualified.
- •Multiple vehicle prohibitions (PG9s) were issued due to significant maintenance failings.
- •A DVSA maintenance investigation revealed a 50% prohibition rate and numerous serious defects.
- •The company's MOT pass rate was 50% compared to a national average of 91%.
- •PHW lacked adequate mechanical knowledge and understanding of vehicle systems.
- •A serious fuel spillage incident was not reported to the DVSA.
- •The company's response to previous warnings and improvements was short-lived.
- •The appellants did not attend the hearing.
Legal Principles
Proportionality of decision regarding licence revocation.
Senior Traffic Commissioner’s Statutory Document No. 10: Principles of Decision-Making and the Concept of Proportionality
Operator's duty to maintain vehicles fit and serviceable.
Public Passenger Vehicles Act 1981, s.17(3)(aa)(i)
Operator's duty to keep records and maintain an effective driver defect reporting system.
Public Passenger Vehicles Act 1981, s.17(3)(aa)
Operator's duty to report serious incidents to the DVSA.
Public Passenger Vehicles Act 1981, s.20
Test for reviewing Traffic Commissioner decisions – whether plainly wrong.
Bradley Fold Travel & Peter Wright v Secretary of State for Transport [2010] EWCA Civ 695
Considerations for licence revocation (balancing public safety with business viability).
Bryan Haulage (No.2) 2002/217 and Priority Freight 2009/225
Outcomes
Appeals dismissed.
The Traffic Commissioner's findings of serious maintenance failings and recklessness were not challenged and were deemed proportionate. The company's and PHW's lack of competence and failure to maintain long-term compliance justified revocation. The risk to public safety was too great.
PSV operator's licence revoked.
Multiple serious maintenance failings, a high prohibition rate, and failure to learn from previous warnings demonstrated a lack of trustworthiness and posed a significant risk to public safety.
Transport manager disqualified for one year.
PHW's gross incompetence as an engineer and transport manager, demonstrated by his lack of understanding of vehicle mechanics and poor decision-making, led to vehicles operating in dangerous conditions.