Decision

Decision for BIFC WASTE LIMITED

Published 28 April 2023

0.1 IN THE SOUTH EAST & METROPOLITAN TRAFFIC AREA

1. BIFC WASTE LIMITED OK2061234 (Under Consideration)

2. Traffic Commissioner Decision

2.1 Public Inquiry on 18 April 2023

2.2 Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Act 1995

3. DECISION

The application by BIFC Waste Limited for a Standard National Licence authorising 6 vehicles and 6 trailers from East Lane Business Park Wembley HA9 7RE is refused.

4. REASONS

The Applicant has not attended the Public Inquiry today. The Applicant is aware of the listing. The call-in letter and bundle were sent by e mail and tracked delivery on 13 March 2023. On 15 March 2023 at 10.20am the posted copy was signed for at the correspondence address in Melton Mowbray by ‘TENNENT’. On 15 March 2023 at 11.42 the PI caseworker received an e mail form “Daniel Freeman bifclimiteduk@gmail.com which included:

This has been a complete farce from November and it is completely unacceptable, I will be going for a complaint to my local MP for a conversation with Grant Sharps the Transport Secretary to try and somehow help the DVSA and their corrupt ways. I will be attending the Public Inquiry but with no information as it’s all been provided, if you wish to bring me copies of what I’ve sent you then that’s all that I require.

Our TM will attend to discuss the operations and how he will manage.

I thank you for your time.

Kind Regards

Jack Cox

On 16 March 2023 at 13.54 Mr Andrew Toth the manager in charge of OTC Eastbourne responded to ‘bifclimiteduk@gmail.com’ in terms approved by me and included:

The potential links to Daniel Freeman and his apparent ongoing involvement are cogently set out in the call-in letter and hearing bundle. The circumstances of this case require a hearing – see STC Statutory Documents No. 1, 3, and 10. The hearing is the Applicant’s opportunity to persuade the Presiding Commissioner, on balance, that it meets mandatory requirements (good repute, financial standing and professional competence). This will necessarily include scrutiny of the links with Daniel Freeman. To assist the Applicant, as part of that scrutiny, it is in the Applicant’s interest to demonstrate an arm’s length sale, including evidence of that Sale (sale agreement, transfer of funds etc). The burden of proof is on the Applicant and therefore if the Applicant decides not to produce any evidence to the hearing (within the 7-day pre-hearing deadline), the Presiding Commissioner will simply deal with the matter based on the hearing bundle and oral evidence.

Please also note that the Traffic Commissioner is independently appointed by the Secretary of State for Transport and is not part of the DVSA.

The company may, of course, wish to take legal or similar advice before the hearing.

Yours faithfully,

Since that date and time nothing further has been heard from the director Jack Cox-Georgiou directly or from anyone else on behalf of the Applicant. On 11 April 2023 the PI caseworker chased the prehearing documentation required as set out on pages 9 and 10 of the PI bundle by e mail to ‘bifclimiteduk@gmail.com’ but there was no response. She telephoned the mobile number for the Applicant on VOL (07885379004) at 08.47 this morning (18/4/23) chasing attendance, leaving a message requesting a call back but no response.

From the above chronology: -

• The Applicant has failed to pursue its application. It has failed to lodge any of the documentation required pre-hearing. It has not even lodged evidence that it continues to meet financial standing; a mandatory requirement that I must assess as at the date of the hearing.

• On 15 March 2023 the Applicant stated that Mr Cox-Georgiou and proposed Transport Manager Jugraj Singh Sandhu are attending today. This was never confirmed by Mr Sandhu, but his name remains on the VOL record as the nominated transport manager. Mr Sandhu has Operator-Admin self-service access to VOL for BIFC. He last logged in on 9 April 2023. It is unclear if it was ever his intention to attend. The director VOL self-service user account is in the name of Daniel Freeman – account created on 11/08/2022 11:11:57 and last logged in on 08/03/2023 12:14:48. The e mail address for that self-service account is bifclimiteduk@gmail.com. Every user must have a unique user access and password. There is no account for Mr Cox- Georgiou.

• There remain concerns that Daniel Freeman or indeed Michael Eldridge are in some way behind this application (page 4 of the PI bundle. A mere assertion in writing by the statutory director that it is his business is not sufficient and one purpose of today was for Mr Cox-Georgiou to demonstrate that only he will be the controlling mind. I am entitled to know whom I may be regulating.

• Mr Cox-Georgiou has no operator licensing history. Mr Sandhu is a recently qualified transport manager, only responsible for one vehicle and one trailer since grant. It was for the director to persuade me that he has sufficient knowledge to ensure quality monitoring and control of the transport operations in the circumstances of this case. In the absence of documentary and oral evidence I cannot be so satisfied.

A check on Companies House today confirms that nothing has changed since the PI bundle was created. However, I also note that a Mr Jack Christopher Cox-Georgiou with the same date of birth is the sole director of London Plumbing & Heating Services Limited. The company was incorporated 11 days before BIFC Waste Limited with the same registered office.

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/14258781/officers

Plumbing & Heating and Waste Services requiring 6 vehicles and 6 trailers appear an unlikely career combination without wider explanation. This will be explored if Mr Cox-Georgiou applies again in future.

4.1 Conclusion

It follows that this application is refused. The gatekeeper role requires this level of scrutiny to ensure road safety and fair competition. This Applicant has failed to address numerous concerns and no other outcome is appropriate or proportionate. Any future applications involving those named in this decision must be referred to a TC/DTC.

4.2 Addendum

A check on public site ‘The Gazette’ after the decision was drafted has identified a direct connection between Daniel Freeman and the correspondence address on VOL for this application.

I attached marked ‘Annex A’ a screen print taken at 16.02 today from the link Daniel Freeman Bankruptcy Orders The Gazette.

Mr Daniel Freeman was made bankrupt on 5 September 2022. A bankrupt cannot be a director without the court’s permission. In light of the bankruptcy and revocation set out in the case summary there is a possibility of ‘fronting’ in the future and this will need to be explored at that time. ‘Fronting’ was helpfully defined in the case of 2012/071 Silvertree, where the Upper Tribunal stated: ‘.. ‘fronting’ occurs when appearances suggest that a vehicle, (or fleet), is being operated by the holder of an operator’s licence when the reality is that it is being operated by an entity, (i.e. an individual, partnership or company), which does not hold an operator’s licence and the manner in which the vehicle is being operated requires, if the operation is to be lawful, that the real operator holds an operator’s licence.

MISS SARAH BELL

TRAFFIC COMMISSIONER

18/04/23