Birmingham bed firm Sleeptherapy Beds Ltd has been refused a licence to run HGVs by the region’s Traffic Commissioner after putting road safety in jeopardy and undercutting legitimate operators.
Nick Denton, the West Midlands Traffic Commissioner, said the firm was “wholly unfit” to hold an operator’s licence, adding that it was one of the clearest-cut cases he had ever faced in his five and a half years in the role.
He remarked that the controlling mind of the business, Sharez Hussain, had a “disgraceful record”, after hearing the firm’s vehicles were caught operating without a licence on three separate occasions this year. One of these was just a few weeks before a public inquiry on 19 October.
In evidence to the Traffic Commissioner, the firm’s named director, Sajad Hussain, said he had not been aware of any of the vehicle encounters at the time they had occurred. He had subsequently given drivers warnings but was unable to explain to the Traffic Commissioner why he had not taken more effective measures to prevent further illegal use.
Sajad Hussain accepted that he had not been exercising sufficient control of the company and confirmed that he was not present at an interview with a Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) examiner. The person who attended the interview had given his name as Sajad Hussain.
The examiner was suspicious about the individual’s true identity because he was much younger than Sajad Hussain.
Mr Hussain told the Traffic Commissioner the individual who attended the interview must have been Sharez Hussain and that things were happening at the company which he did not know about.
Sharez Hussain was a director of Health Therapy Ltd, which had a licence application refused in December 2016 and entered liquidation in April 2017. Two vehicles operated by Health Therapy Ltd had been impounded for illegal operation in 2015.
Companies House records revealed the correspondence address for Sharez Hussain as 21 Albion Road, Sparkhill, Birmingham. The registered address for Sleeptherapy Beds Ltd is the same.
In a written decision issued after the hearing, Mr Denton concluded that Sharez Hussain was the controlling mind of Sleeptherapy Beds Ltd and had personated Sajad Hussain in an ‘under caution’ interview with DVSA, which he noted is a serious offence.
“The company’s persistent, knowing and illegal operation of HGVs without a licence has put road safety in jeopardy and has undercut bona fide companies who operate within the law,” he added. “Sleeptherapy Beds Ltd has no regard for the law and I therefore cannot trust it to comply in the future.”
