Decision

Decision for Richard Anthony Saunders

Published 8 March 2024

0.1 WESTERN TRAFFIC AREA

1. Decision of the Traffic Commissioner

2. Public Inquiry in Bristol, 21 February 2024

3. RICHARD ANTHONY SAUNDERS

4. BACKGROUND

Richard Anthony Saunders is the holder of a restricted public service vehicle operator’s licence authorising the use of one vehicle from an operating centre in Chedworth, Cheltenham. The licence started in January 2012.

In December 2023, my office received a report from Gloucestershire County Council. It alleged that the operator was operating three contracts using three vehicles, had displayed forged licence discs on two vehicles and had submitted to the Council a copy of a restricted PSV operator’s licence which purported to authorise the use of four vehicles. I called Mr Saunders to public inquiry.

5. THE PUBLIC INQUIRY

Mr Richard Saunders attended the public inquiry accompanied by his daughter-in-law Sarah Saunders. He told me that his private hire work had dried up completely during Covid and had not restarted. That had caused him to look for school contracts to fill the void. He had been successful in obtaining one so applied for more.

Mr Saunders admitted that he had operated more vehicles than authorised, fabricated licence discs and altered the licence document.

I asked about vehicle maintenance, noting that the safety inspection reports for RA57BUS identified no defects. I was told that inspections were conducted by his son. I noted the clear safety inspection in August which appeared to be the closest inspection prior to the vehicle being presented for MOT on 17 October 2023. It failed with seven major defects and one advisory. Mr Saunders took issue with the Vehicle Standards Assessor’s that the three components recorded as “heavily corroded” were as described. The two protruding bolts had passed previously. The road-spring must have broken on the way to the MOT, the break was still shiny. The Assessor had broken the handle when trying to open the door. He did not comment on the lack of a parking brake on one wheel.

Mr Saunders told me of his financial position which I do not need to record here other than to acknowledge that revocation may lead to a personal bankruptcy, and disqualification almost certainly would. He wants to relinquish his private hire licence in June for understandable personal reasons which again I do not need to set out here. I was given a clear explanation for the failure to continue with the variation application started in October 2023.

The plan for the future was to move to a standard national licence. Sarah Saunders was booked on a transport manager CPC course with the exam in June.

I reserved my decision and closed the hearing.

6. CONSIDERATION AND FINDINGS OF FACT

The admissions of operating over authority, displaying manufactured licence discs and altering the licence documentation are very serious indeed. That the latter two acts were done in an attempt to deceive a local authority and to achieve a commercial advantage over other, law-abiding, operators is a strongly aggravating feature. The operator has finances for the one-vehicle authorised but no more than that. Further aggravating is the apparent condition of the one vehicle I know to have been in service as identified by the many and serious defects found at MOT.

The early admissions are a mitigating feature and I further acknowledge that Covid will have had a very serious impact on the core private hire business. Regulatory action will have a severe impact. The operator has held a licence for twelve years and not previously come on the enforcement radar.

In conducting my balancing exercise, I find that the deliberate falsifications to operate three times more vehicle than authorised are very far from being offset by the mitigation.

In T/2012/34 Martin Joseph Formby t/a G & G Transport (at paragraph 17), the Upper Tribunal said that “Traffic Commissioners must be able to trust those to whom they grant operator’s licences to operate in compliance with the regulatory regime. The public and other operators must also be able to trust operators to comply with the regulatory regime”.

This was echoed in NT/2013/82 Arnold Transport & Sons Ltd v DOENI : “The Tribunal has stated on many occasions that operator’s licensing is based on trust. Since it is impossible to police every operator and every vehicle at all times the Department in Northern Ireland, (and Traffic Commissioners in GB), must feel able to trust operators to comply with all relevant parts of the operator’s licensing regime. In addition other operators must be able to trust their competitors to comply, otherwise they will no longer compete on a level playing field. In our view this reflects the general public interest in ensuring that Heavy Goods Vehicles are properly maintained and safely driven. Unfair competition is against the public interest because it encourages operators to cut corners in order to remain in business. Cutting corners all too easily leads to compromising safe operation.”

The condition of the vehicle here suggests that corners were indeed cut and that may well be because there were finances for only one with three in possession; safety was compromised along with fair competition. Taken with the falsification of official documents, I find that I cannot trust Mr Saunders to be compliant in the future. Whilst noting the severe impact the action I am taking is likely to have on him and his wife, I cannot step back from it. This is a business which must come to a stop. The falsifications presented to a statutory authority also mean that I find a period of disqualification is appropriate although the mitigating features I have set out above mean that I set it at a low level.

7. DECISIONS

Richard Anthony Saunders has lost his good repute. The licence is revoked. To allow an orderly wind-down, revocation will take effect from 31 March 2024.

Richard Anthony Saunders is disqualified from applying for or holding a public service vehicle operator’s licence from 1 April 2024 until 31 March 2025.

Kevin Rooney

Traffic Commissioner

21 February 2024