Decision

Decision for Lee Barton (OF2020428)

Published 24 August 2023

0.1 In the Eastern Traffic Area

1. The Deputy Traffic Commissioner’s expanded written version of a decision given orally at a public inquiry in Cambridge on 25 May 2023

1.1 Lee Barton (OF2020428)

2. Decision

Licence OF2020428 held by Lee Barton t/a Morstan Haulage is revoked with immediate effect under Section 26(1)(f) and (h) of the Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Act 1995.

Lee Barton is disqualified for 12 months, until 26 May 2024, from holding or obtaining any type of operator’s licence in any traffic area and from being the director of any company holding or obtaining such a licence, pursuant to Section 28(1), (4) and (5) of the 1995 Act.

3. Explanation

Lee Barton lent his licence to a Mr Danny Reardon, specifying Mr Reardon’s vehicle WR64 KJN on his (Mr Barton’s) licence on 17 February 2022. On 10 May 2022 the vehicle was stopped by DVSA and issued with an S-marked prohibition for a total of seven defects, including a severely worn road spring leaf and two seriously under-inflated tyres. Subsequent DVSA inquiries elicited the information that the vehicle was owned and operated by Mr Reardon (whose company had applied for but not been granted a licence) without any oversight by Mr Barton. Mr Barton’s sole involvement was to specify the vehicle on his licence and give the disc to Mr Reardon.

Mr Barton has told me today that he was suffering from [REDACTED] at the time and had not realised the seriousness of what he was doing.

It also emerged from the DVSA inquiries that Mr Barton was carrying goods for hire and reward while possessing only a restricted licence. Mr Barton has told me today that he started out in 2019 carrying only his own goods but began to carry out hire and reward work at a later stage. He did not appreciate that this required a different type of licence (standard national). I took him to an exchange of emails he had had with the central licensing office in Leeds during the application process, when Leeds had queried whether his trading name (Morstan Haulage) meant that a standard licence would in fact be required: he had confirmed that he would only be carrying goods on own account and that a restricted licence would suffice. That exchange should have put him on notice that he would need a standard licence if ever he moved to carrying goods for third parties for hire and reward. Mr Barton said that he had forgotten about this exchange. I am not convinced that this is so.

Mr Barton had also moved in October 2019 to set up a limited company, Morstan Haulage Ltd. This has been the trading entity since that date. The company should have made an application for a licence at that time: instead Mr Barton continued to hold the licence as a sole trader. Worse, he confirmed to DVSA when interviewed under caution on 13 June 2022 that he was still a sole trader. This was untrue.

4. Findings

Mr Barton has failed to fulfil his undertakings to ensure the lawful operation of vehicles and to notify the traffic commissioner within 28 days of any material change. His lending of his licence to Danny Reardon allowed Mr Reardon to operate a highly non-compliant and dangerous vehicle from an unauthorised operating centre, with the outward appearance of legality. Lending of an operator licence is a very serious issue as it enables an unscrupulous person such as Mr Reardon to by-pass the regulatory requirement to apply for and be granted an operator’s licence before operating an HGV.

Further unlawful vehicle operation has occurred in that Mr Barton has been operating for hire and reward under a restricted licence. I am not persuaded by his claim that he was ignorant of the distinction or that he had forgotten the exchange with the central licensing office where they had explicitly drawn his attention to the distinction between the two types of licence.

Mr Barton failed to notify the transition to a limited company in October 2019 or make the necessary application in the name of the company. The fact that both the operator licence and vehicle disc are clearly marked “not transferable” should have put him on notice that the limited company could not use a licence issued to a different entity, Mr Barton as a sole trader.

5. Balancing act

On the more positive side, Mr Barton has acknowledged that he lent his licence, operated in the wrong entity and wrongly operated for hire and reward. He has not sought to pretend that he did anything else. He attended an operator licence management course in May 2022, and has a reasonable maintenance record. He stopped operating on 5 May 2023 when the illegal nature of his operation was pointed out to him by his solicitor.

But the positive aspects are heavily outweighed by the negative. The revocation of the licence is inevitable. The operating entity is no longer the person to which the licence was issued. Under Mr Barton’s watch, serious instances of unlawful operation of vehicles have taken place. I have therefore to conclude that he is not fit, at the present time, to hold an operator’s licence. I am thus revoking the licence under Section 26(1)(f) and (h) of the 1995 Act.

6. Disqualification

Mr Barton’s solicitor, Murray Oliver, has argued against the disqualification of Mr Barton, asking rather that an interim licence be granted to the company upon application in the near future. However, the lending of the licence and the operation for hire and reward using a restricted licence are serious matters, undermining fair competition and the whole purpose of the operator licensing system. A person who does both should not expect to be immediately re-admitted to the industry. I consider that such has been the seriousness of the misconduct that Mr Barton should be disqualified from holding an operator licence and from being the director of a company holding one. In considering the length of the disqualification I have taken account of paragraph 108 of the Senior Traffic Commissioner’s Statutory Guidance Document No 10 which suggests a disqualification of between one and three years for a first public inquiry (which this is). Because Mr Barton has not attempted to conceal his lending of the licence, operation for hire and reward or operating as a limited company, and has at least embarked on some rehabilitation measures, I am imposing a disqualification period of 12 months, at the lower end of the STC’s suggested scale. The disqualification will terminate on 26 May 2024.

Nicholas Denton

Deputy Traffic Commissioner

25 May 2023