The partners in a Prestatyn waste collection business have been banned from running commercial vehicles for 25 years after the Traffic Commissioner for Wales concluded they had been engaged in “sustained and serious dishonesty and total disregard for the law”.
Andrew Hughes and Elizabeth Hughes have each been disqualified until 2042 and had their licence to operate HGVs revoked following a decision by the country’s licensing regulator.
In a written judgement, Nick Jones said:
“I need to disqualify both partners for a very long period of time as this is an appalling case by any standards. Anything other than a very long disqualification will send totally the wrong message to compliant operators and industry.”
Neither partner attended the public inquiry, which heard evidence about their operation of commercial vehicles.
Examiners from the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) identified a number of offences relating to vehicles being operated by the partnership, which had serious defects, no MOT and were untaxed. In some cases, vehicles were unregistered and uninsured.
The agency encountered vehicles on the following dates and locations:
· 11 July 2016 on the A541 in Caergwrle
· 09 August 2016 on the A541 in Cefn Y Bedd
· 13 September 2016 on the A541 in Caergwrle
· 20 September 2016 at the Wrexham enforcement check site
· 04 October 2016 on the A483 Southbound
· 02 December 2016 at the Ewole enforcement check site
In evidence to the public inquiry, DVSA Traffic Examiner Jonathan Woodward said that during his 12 years in the role he had never seen a more blatant, consistent, comprehensive and wide ranging disregard for road safety and legislation.
One of the drivers, Christopher Jones, appeared before the Traffic Commissioner in respect of his conduct as a professional driver.
He said that he had been told by his boss, Andrew Hughes, to abandon vehicles when stopped by DVSA. He conceded to the Commissioner that he knew this could not be the correct practice but did as his employer had instructed as a result of pressure.
Christopher Jones added that his employer was cross with him for telling DVSA who he worked for when he was asked by examiners. The driver also told the regulator that very little maintenance took place on the vehicles.
In one instance, DVSA officers found a defect reporting book for the vehicle which had been stopped on 02 December and issued with a prohibition for missing external mirrors. The defect book contained entries about the mirrors needing to be replaced on 15, 22 and 29 November. The agency said this was evidence that defective vehicles were used over a prolonged period.
Concluding that the partnership’s licence should be revoked with immediate effect, Mr Jones remarked:
“There has been deliberate and sustained illegal activity from this operator. I endorse [the] comments [from TE Woodward] as the partnership has sought to obtain a significant competitive advantage as a result of exceptionally serious failures to comply with regulatory regimes.”
He added that Andrew Hughes and Elizabeth Hughes were “rogues”, in line with the definition given by Philip Hampton in his report ‘Reducing administrative burdens: effective inspection and enforcement’, published in 2005.
The Traffic Commissioner also made an order against the professional driving licence held by Christopher Jones. He will be disqualified from driving commercial vehicles for 18 months, with effect from 19 June 2017. The disqualification would have been longer but for the cooperation he provided and making full admissions to the Traffic Commissioner.
He noted: “Professional drivers must know that whilst each case will of course be dealt with on its merits, failure to provide fulsome cooperation with enforcement officers when stopped is likely to lead to their loss of livelihood. They should also know that appropriate credit will always be given where there is cooperation with regulatory authorities when illegal activity has taken place.”
