Licence revoked for unacceptable standards
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TC Nick Jones describes Henderson Haulage’s standards as falling short of the minimum acceptable standard
By Roger Brown
NICK JONES, trafic commissioner (TC) for the West Midland trafic area, has revoked the O-licence of Henderson Haulage after describing standards at the operator as “woefully short of the minimum acceptable” .
In a written decision following a November public inquiry (PI), the TC said the boss of the Oldbury, West Midlands-based business, Royston Henderson, had also lost his repute as transport manager.
Henderson Haulage, which was granted a standard national O-licence in 1994, was authorised for six vehicles and three trailers. However, in a recent maintenance investigation that was marked unsatisfactory, VOSA vehicle examiner Neil Brown discovered: • S-marked prohibitions issued at the roadside; • a poor roadworthiness prohibition rate for the past ive years; • the use of a maintenance provider not registered with the ofice of the TC; • a total of six S-marked prohibitions in the past ive years.
Brown said the failings identiied were similar to those found in PIs the business was called to in September 1996, August 2005, March 2006 and April 2008. According to Brown, Henderson Haulage had also not complied with an undertaking attached to its O-licence in 2009 relating to audits.
This speciied that maintenance systems, documentation and vehicle inspections should be audited by a trade association every six months. These audit reports were to be prepared, acted upon and retained for at least two years.
VOSA also requested that a copy of the report should be forwarded to it within 14 days, together with the operator’s proposal for implementing its recommendations.
The undertaking said that after two consecutive clear audit reports, the operator could have it removed from the licence.
Brown told the TC that he raised the failure to comply with Henderson who responded that he “did not understand what he needed to do” .
Jones said the fact Henderson had been co-operative during the investigation meant that he had drawn back from a formal disqualiication.
The TC added: “I ind that the operator did understand what was required of him when he agreed to undertakings being recorded on his licence in 2009.
“This operator has had every opportunity to demonstrate compliance, having appeared before a TC on ive separate occasions.
“I do not accept his comments about not understanding the undertaking relating to audits.
“I relect on my inding that the operator has chosen to ignore his undertaking relating to independent audits. This is a serious abuse of trust.”