Decision

Decision for Salim Ahmed t/a Leicester Paper Products

Published 15 October 2024

0.1 EAST OF ENGLAND TRAFFIC AREA

1. DECISIONS OF THE DEPUTY TRAFFIC COMMISSIONER

2. PUBLIC INQUIRY HELD IN CAMBRIDGE ON 10 SEPTEMBER 2024

3. OPERATOR: SALIM AHMED t/a LEICESTER PAPER PRODUCTS   LICENCE OF0234224

4. APPLICANT: LEICESTER PAPER PRODUCTS LTD

5. Background

Salim Ahmed t/a Leicester Paper Products holds a restricted goods vehicle operator’s licence (OF0234224) for four vehicles. The licence was granted in 2000.

5.1 DVSA stop

On 3 October 2023 the operator’s vehicle FJ64 KCG was stopped by DVSA. Salim Ahmed, the driver, was found to be driving without a CPC, his certificate having expired in October 2019, four years previously. The vehicle was not displaying an operator licence disc and was not specified on Mr Ahmed’s licence, although he had acquired it more than a month previously (under Section 5(6) of the 1995 Act the operator has one month’s grace in which to specify a vehicle on its licence after having acquired it). DVSA also found that Mr Ahmed was driving without a tachograph card (he did not in fact possess one) and therefore was not making a record of his journey. The vehicle was issued with a delayed prohibition for an illuminated emissions warning light.  

5.2 Follow-up visit

DVSA carried out a follow-up visit to the operator’s premises on 19 April 2024. The ensuing report marked the operator “unsatisfactory” after DVSA found that:

• there had been no system in place for downloading or analysing tachographs;

• vehicles were being given safety inspections every 12 weeks instead of the stated 4 week intervals;

• vehicle maintenance records had not been retained for the required 15 months;

• the operator’s initial MOT failure rate was very high, at 75% over the last 5 years compared to a national average of 12%;

• there appeared to have been a change of entity, as there was evidence to show that Leicester Paper Products Ltd, a company of which Salim Ahmed was the director, was the actual operator of the vehicle;

• in summary, DVSA concluded that Salim Ahmed had little or no understanding of the responsibilities of an operator licence holder and the applicable law.

6. Public inquiry

In the light of this report a letter proposing to revoke Mr Ahmed’s operator licence was sent to him on 24 June 2024. Mr Ahmed requested a public inquiry.

In the meantime, on 9 May 2024 an application for a restricted licence for four vehicles was submitted by Leicester Paper Products Ltd. Its request for an interim licence was refused and the application called to an inquiry conjoined with that into Salim Ahmed’s operator licence.

The public inquiry was arranged to take place in Cambridge on 10 September 2024. The existing operator, sole trader Salim Ahmed, was asked to produce records by 27 August 2024. Nothing was received.

The applicant, Leicester Paper Products Ltd, was asked to produce, by 27 August 2024, evidence of finances and of prospective systems for ensuring vehicle maintenance and observance of drivers’ hours rules. Nothing was received.

Neither Salim Ahmed nor Leicester Paper Products attended the public inquiry earlier today. I have therefore proceeded to determine the matters based on the papers.

7. Findings and decisions

7.1 Salim Ahmed OF0234224

I make adverse findings under Section 26(1)(c)(iii), (e), (f) and (h) of the 1995 Act. Mr Ahmed’s vehicle was given a delayed prohibition on the only roadside encounter with DVSA. Mr Ahmed did not fulfil his promise, given on application, that vehicles would be given safety inspections every 4 weeks. He failed to fulfil his undertaking that he would ensure the lawful operation and driving of vehicles: he himself drove without a CPC (for four years) and without using a tachograph card. He failed also to specify a vehicle within the one month period allowed. Vehicles have not been kept fit and serviceable: the operator’s vehicle has failed its MOT on three of the last four presentations. There has been a change of entity to a limited company (incorporated as far back as 2007): Mr Ahmed has failed to communicate this to the traffic commissioner and, until May 2024, failed to make the necessary application for a licence in the company’s name.

By failing to attend the inquiry that he himself requested, Mr Ahmed has prevented himself from being able to put any countervailing arguments as to why his licence should not be revoked. It is clear from DVSA’s report and the statistics that he has little or no idea of the rules applicable to and standards required of HGV operators and is not a fit person to hold an operator’s licence. I am therefore revoking his licence with immediate effect under Section 26(1)(c)(iii), (e), (f) and (h) of the 1995 Act.

7.2 Leicester Paper Products Ltd

As the company has failed to provide up to date evidence of finances and has not provided any evidence of its systems for ensuring that vehicles are kept fit and serviceable and that drivers drive within the drivers’ hours rules, I cannot be satisfied that it is of sufficient funds or that the necessary systems are in place (Sections 13C and 13D of the 1995 Act refer). Nor can I be satisfied, in the light of the history of director Salim Ahmed, that the company is fit to hold an operator’s licence (Section 13B of the 1995 Act refers). I am thus refusing the application under Sections 13B, C and D.

7.3 Salim Ahmed – disqualification from holding an operator’s licence

Because of Mr Ahmed’s manifest and long-lasting failings as an operator, and because he has behaved in a frivolous manner by requesting a public inquiry and then failing to attend it, I conclude that he should be disqualified under Section 28 from holding or obtaining an operator’s licence in the future and from being the director of any company holding or obtaining such a licence. I am disqualifying him for an indefinite period of time, although he may request a hearing before a traffic commissioner if ever he wishes to argue that the disqualification be time-limited or cancelled. But I would not expect the disqualification period to be reduced to less than two years in any event.

Nicholas Denton

Deputy Traffic Commissioner

10 September 2024