Disc lending results in disqualification
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A CHELMSFORD-based haulier has been disqualified for three years for lending discs to other operators. In a written decision following an April public inquiry in Cambridge, Richard Turfitt, traffic commissioner (TC) for the Eastern traffic area, disqualified William John Jones, trading as Jones Transport, for three years as an operator and transport manager, and said he had also lost his repute.
Jones had held an O-licence, authorising 12 vehicles and 10 trailers since 1996, and had five vehicles in possession.
At the hearing Paul Carless, representing Jones, said his client had been hiring the five discs to other operators.
In mitigation, Carless described his client as a desperate man who had been led to do “desperate things” .
The TC was told Jones had apparently cashed in insurance policies and pension plans in an effort to keep his business going.
Turfitt added: “I did take into account the fact that his financial circumstances led him to loan his discs, but also concluded that it had undermined any trust I might have in him.”
A serious matter
The TC said the loaning of discs was “a very serious matter” and that the disqualification period could have been longer, but for the fact Jones had provided the names of those people he had loaned them to.