Decision

Decision for ICL Grab Hire Ltd – OM2063695

Published 15 August 2023

0.1 In the Scottish Traffic Area

1. Written Confirmation of the Traffic Commissioner’s Decision

1.1 ICL Grab Hire Ltd – OM2063695

2. Background

ICL Grab Hire Ltd sought a Standard National Goods Vehicle Operator’s Licence authorising one vehicle only. The Directors are Ian McNaught and Charlene Law. Mr McNaught was also nominated to act as the Transport Manager, as confirmed in correspondence received on 27 March 2023 (page 53) and was said to have received refresher training on 23 February 2012.

There was one proposed Operating Centre at Unit 1, Underwood Road, Paisley PA3 1TD. Preventative Maintenance Inspections were to be carried out in-house, by an Ian Joseph McNaught, at 6-weekly intervals.

Mr Ian McNaught recently pursued another application, in the name of PHR Grab Hire Ltd (OM2053882). My colleague, the Traffic Commissioner for Scotland, refused that application following a hearing on 20 February 2023 in Glasgow.

3. Hearing

The Public Inquiry was listed for today, 6 July 2023, in the Tribunal Room of the Office of the Traffic Commissioner in Edinburgh. The applicant failed to appear (see below).

4. Issues

The public inquiry was called to allow the applicant further opportunity to satisfy me that it met the statutory criteria and specifically by reference to the following sections of the Goods Vehicle (Licensing of Operators) Act:

• 13A(2)(a) - effective and stable establishment in Great Britain.

• 13A(2)(b) – to be of good repute.

• 13A(2)(c) - has the appropriate financial standing.

• 13A(3) - has a designated Transport Manager who meets the requirements of Schedule 3.

• 13C(2) - has satisfactory arrangements to comply with the law regarding drivers’ hours.

• 13C(3) - has satisfactory arrangements to ensure that vehicles are not overloaded.

• 13C(4) has satisfactory facilities and arrangements for maintaining the vehicles in a fit and serviceable condition, and not prejudiced by a lack of finance – 13D.

• 13C(5) and (6) has an operating centre for heavy goods vehicles which is available and suitable for that purpose, and which is sufficient for all heavy goods vehicles used under the licence.

The call up letter of 1 June 2023 put the applicant on notice of the general issues of concern. The applicant was directed to lodge evidence in support by 29 June 2023, including financial, maintenance and other compliance documentation.

On Monday, 26 June 2023, the Office of the Traffic Commissioner in Edinburgh received an email from Ms Law suggesting that the applicant had only just received the letter dated 1 June 2023 notifying the applicant of the date of the hearing and the matters to be considered. Ms Law suggested that the Directors would be away on holiday from 30 July (which I took to mean June) to 14 July 2023. She provided no evidence of a pre-booked appointment. She also indicated that the address given previously was not suitable for service and Ms Law suggested her home address.

In those circumstances, I gave instructions that, as the applicant would already have been on notice of the statutory requirements which it was required to satisfy in pursuing its application and that the bundle consisted of papers, the majority, if not, all should have been known to the applicant, they should be scanned and sent to the same email address. I referred to the Senior Traffic Commissioner’s Statutory Document No. 9. As it is a condition on an operator’s licence to maintain an address where it can receive correspondence sent on my behalf, I was not minded to adjourn the hearing, pending receipt of any further evidence. The applicant was at liberty to seek to withdraw the application or to persuade me to vacate the date which had been given. No evidence of a pre-booked holiday has been received.

5. Determination

Reference was made to application OM2053882 when this application was lodged. I saw from the Companies House register (pages 35 to 36) that Ms Law was appointed as a Director for this applicant, two days after the hearing in Glasgow; the day on which this application was submitted. I understand Ms Law to be Mr McNaught’s partner. This applicant was only incorporated on 16 January 2023. The previous hearing was first listed for 21 November 2022.

In the processing of this application, the applicant was unable to demonstrate financial standing by an average balance to meet the prescribed sum but sought to rely on a closing balance (page 60 to 64)). The applicant was asked to explain deposits made by PHR Grab Hire Ltd and McGowan Civils. Ms Law’s response (at page 52), states:

I have been asked to explain my links to PHR GRAB HIRE LTD, this was my partners business who he is currently director of. But he is in process of closing this down and switching things over in order to move forward. Myself Miss charlene Law and Mr Ian McNaught have now opened a new business called ICL GRAB HIRE LTD with new premises away from where PHR operated from. And look to move forward away from the PHR name, this also calls for the bank statements which was shown money received to ICL account from PHR this was Mr Ian McNaught’s own money that he is moving over so he can also close the PHR bank account so this should have been stated as other income which has now been rectified on our statements.

McGowan civils bought a van from us without VAT as we weren’t registered for VAT at this point in time, and this was paid to our bank account as we are trying to build funds from our belongings in order to hopefully have ICL Grab Hire LTD operator licence approved to move forward with carrying out work.

I was therefore interested to hear whether PHR Grab Hire Ltd was still in existence. The Companies House record still refers.

My colleague’s decision in respect of the application by PHR Grab Hire Ltd was a matter of public record. She referred to information regarding alleged waste crime at the Rannoch Road site owned by Mr McNaught’s uncle, Eric Morrison Snr. Eric Morrison Snr had apparently been filmed as part of a BBC documentary, wearing clothing bearing a ‘PHR services’ logo, with that logo observed elsewhere on the site. She also referred to documentary evidence, including email correspondence about the PHR Grab Hire application and a copy of the company’s headed notepaper, which bore Eric Morrison’s name. Mr McNaught was unable to explain this. It was suggested that Mr Morrison’s daughter, Ms Orr, might be able to explain as she undertook some of the administration. She suggested that Mr Morrison was too old to become involved in the business, but she became confused when asked to explain the emails which purported to be sent by Mr McNaught. She suggested that she put the wrong date on a post-dated invoice. She had mistakenly left Mr Morrison’s mobile phone number on the PHR Grab Hire headed notepaper. Her involvement appeared to change during the proceedings from office administrator to care-giver. The family had evidently not expected there to be any issues with the involvement of Eric Morrison Snr.

Mr McNaught told the Commissioner that he paid rent to his aunt and uncle for use of the Operating Centre, which afforded him space to park a vehicle and access to an inspection pit. Mr McNaught only latterly admitted to closer relations with Eric Morrison Snr and Eric Morrison Jnr. It emerged that the invoices for ‘rent’ were in fact a means of providing financial support for them, since Mr Morrison Jnr had been sentenced to imprisonment. He accepted that the invoices were not what they purported to be. He also admitted that the declaration claiming that maintenance would be carried out ‘in house’ was untrue and that it had been completed by Eric Morrison Snr from the outset. He was also unable to explain why a payment of invoice, purportedly issued by Eric Morrison Snr for maintenance, had been made several days before the invoice had actually been issued. Mr McNaught confused Preventative Maintenance Inspections and the daily driver walk-round checks. It also emerged that the specified vehicles were owned by Eric Morrison Snr. Despite that evidence, Mr McNaught denied that Eric Morrison Snr had any involvement in running that business.

Mr McNaught failed to satisfy the Traffic Commissioner as to section 13A(2)(c) having not provided admissible financial evidence or to meet the required sum, despite having been permitted to operate under an interim licence. She was unimpressed by the evidence of Mr McNaught and Ms Orr. He changed his evidence about the formation of PHR Grab Hire, eventually admitting the business connections with his uncle. It was established that rental payments had been artificially inflated to benefit Mr Morrison Snr and his wife. The Traffic Commissioner therefore rejected the ‘commercial lease agreement’, which she found to be a device for those purposes. The Traffic Commissioner found that the business of PHR Grab Hire Ltd was most likely being operated by, and for the benefit of, Eric Morrison Snr and noted its incorporation in February 2022, just a few weeks after the BBC documentary.

The Traffic Commissioner specifically recorded Mr McNaught’s evidence as implausible and unreliable so that she could not trust that applicant to comply with the operator licensing regime. She also noted that PHR Grab Hire Ltd had failed to maintain appropriate financial standing. She described the late provision of documents for the previous inquiry as a further indicator of the attitude on that operator and thereby its management. Mr McNaught failed to satisfy her as to that company’s repute.

It was against that background which this new applicant sought to persuade me that it might be granted an operator’s licence. It nominated the site at Unit 1, 8 Underwood Road, Paisley PA3 1TD. The accompanying press reports (pages 65 to 81) include an article published in The Daily Record on 29 November 2018. Those reports refer to the activities of an organised crime group operating in the direct vicinity of the nominated Operating Centre and refer to the imprisonment of Eric Morrison Jnr, with seizure of Class A drugs and associated equipment for the synthesis of Etizolam tablets. The BBC Documentary entitled A Dirty Business reported on the unlicensed carriage and concealment of waste. As identified by the Traffic Commissioner, the television footage showed Eric Morrison Snr in clothing displaying the logo for “PHR Services”, with similar signage and connected emails referred to that entity.

In the course of this application the Licensing staff requested details of how Ian Joseph McNaught would maintain the vehicle(s) (19 March 2023) but received no response. I was unclear how he might be qualified. No vehicle details were provided, although I noted the previous findings of the Traffic Commissioner for Scotland.

The applicant failed to appear or to provide requested information and documentation. In those circumstances I might infer that the application was not being pursued. I concluded that the applicant was unable to overcome the issues arising from the previous findings, to which I have referred. In failing to use the opportunity afforded by a Public Inquiry, it remained the case that the applicant had failed to meet the statutory criteria and I was therefore obliged to refuse the application by reference to sections 13A(2)(a), (b), (c) and (3), and 13C(2), (3), (4), (5) and (6). The applicant is at liberty to renew but any such application will have to be referred to a Traffic Commissioner.

R Turfitt

Traffic Commissioner

6 July 2023