Finn's capacity to earn is doubted by Tribunal in licence revocation appeal
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THE REVOCATION ON financial grounds of the licence held by Brighton-based Alexander and Sandra Cooke, trading as Cookes Haulage, by the South-Eastern and Metropolitan Deputy Traffic Commissioner Timothy Swan has been upheld by the Transport Tribunal on appeal.
The Cookes held a licence for one vehicle and one trailer and gave an undertaking to produce bank statements by the end of August 2005 to show they had the required £6,200 available. Information was subsequently produced which satisfied the DTC, subject to the production of further hank statements for the three months to March 2006.When those were produced.they showed a deficit of £2.000.
The DTC was told that the firm had an overdraft facility of #2,000, and that it was owed £5,200 by 3PL Solutions, formerly Gipping Container Services, which had gone into liquidation. The administrator had indicated full payment was unlikely.
In revoking the licence, the DTC said the Cookes had been the victims of great misfortune, but that did not enable him to overcome the statutory provisions.
Before the Tribunal, it was accepted there was no guarantee the money owed by 3PL Solutions would be paid.The Cookes' capacity to earn should be taken into account, as well as the value of the vehicle.
Dismissing the appeal, the Tribunal said the DTC had been right to find the Cookes could not comply with the financial requirement. It was evident that if the vehicle was sold, they would be unable to earn, and that the capacity to earn was itself uncertain.