News

Bootle, Liverpool-based West Coast Pallets was seeking a new national licence for two vehicles before North-Western Deputy Traffic Commissioner Mark Hinchliffe. The company's directors, Samuel and Alice Wildman, had been the sole directors of Bootle Board Co, a company that went into liquidation in January after unsuccessful litigation over a bad debt of almost £300,000, of which £178,000 was owed to the Wildmans.

Samuel Wildman agreed that he and his wife were also the sole directors of  BBH Transport, which went into receivership in 1999. West Coast Pallets was a much smaller venture than Bootle Board had been. It had been trading for a short time and was making a profit. Currently customers had to collect their own pallets. Samuel Wildman maintained that all the Bootle Board licence discs had been returned.

The DTC said a vehicle given a delayed prohibition in June appeared to have been displaying a Bootle Board disc. Wildman, who held a CPC under grandfather rights, said the vehicle and trailer had been empty and it was the only transport they had had to go up to Ripon to discuss a prospective contract. He accepted that interim authority to commence operating had been refused. The Deputy TC considered the company needed a transport manager with the right expertise, as O-licences should not to be granted to operators without a CPC-qualified transport manager.