News

A non-operational company that allowed its licence to be used by another operator has had its licence revoked. In addition, Lomas Transport of Aintree, Liverpool and its sole director Peter Sweeney have been disqualified from holding or obtaining an O-licence in any Traffic Area for 12 months.

The Aintree operation held a licence for eight vehicles and eight trailers. North Western Traffic Commissioner Beverley Bell said that the operator of the vehicles specified on the licence was  no longer Lomas Transport, but was Northern Highways and/or Orion Heavy Logistics. That change had not been notified.

It appeared the reason was that Lomas Transport and the entities Northern Highways and/or Orion Heavy Logistics knew they could not satisfy the requirements of the O-licensing regime and therefore chose not to notify her of the change. When Vosa conducted a maintenance investigation, the operator failed to tell them the true position. It was admitted that the vehicles had been operated illegally, and that the Lomas licence had been used to hoodwink the finance companies, Paccar Finance and Alliance and Leicester, into thinking that there was a legitimate O-licence.

She had been asked to delay the revocation order to enable a fresh licence application to be made. However, she saw no reason why she should exercise her discretion and give legitimacy to what was a wholly illegal operation. The TC indicated that Paccar Finance and Alliance and Leicester would  be notified of her decision and the admissions that had been made with regard to the O-licence.

Ignorance of the law not the reason for offences

This was not a case of ignorance of the law. Those concerned knew what was required, knew they could not get a licence and decided to ignore the TC and not deal with the matter properly.