Decision

Decision for Simon Jewkes t/a Jewkes International (OD1006830)

Published 9 March 2021

WEST MIDLANDS TRAFFIC AREA

DECISION OF THE TRAFFIC COMMISSIONER

PUBLIC INQUIRY HELD ON 18 FEBRUARY 2021

OPERATOR: SIMON JEWKES T/A JEWKES INTERNATIONAL

LICENCE OD1006830

1. Background

1.1 Operator details and licence history

Simon Jewkes t/a Jewkes International is a sole trader holding a standard international goods vehicle operator’s licence (OD1006830) for two vehicles. The licence was granted in 2002. Simon Jewkes is also the nominated transport manager on the licence.

2. DVSA investigation

On 22 September 2020 one of the vehicles on Simon Jewkes’s licence, YN57 LYK, was stopped by DVSA at Leatherhead. DVSA found that the vehicle tachograph unit had never been downloaded by Simon Jewkes, despite the vehicle being specified on his licence since September 2018. Further inquiries revealed that the vehicle was not being operated by Mr Jewkes at all, but had been rented out to a “friend” whose name Mr Jewkes knew only as “Acks”.

A check of the registered keepership showed that YN57 LYK had been registered to Speedwell Transport Ltd since February 2016. Speedwell Transport Ltd does not possess an operator’s licence (it surrendered a previous licence in 2011). The sole director of Speedwell Transport Ltd is Tahir Aziz: Mr Aziz was previously the director of Sung UK Ltd whose operator licence OK1121380 was revoked by deputy traffic commissioner John Baker at a public inquiry in April 2017. DTC Baker also disqualified Mr Aziz from holding a licence (and from being the director of a company holding a licence) for two years.

DVSA also discovered that the other vehicle specified on the licence of Simon Jewkes, BU51 WKK, had been registered to ASG Industries Ltd since November 2014. One of the two directors of this company is Bryan Jewkes (Simon Jewkes’s uncle). Bryan Jewkes had previously been the director of Albion Metal and Waste Ltd, whose licence was revoked by TC Nick Jones at a public inquiry in 2014. Bryan Jewkes lost his good repute and was disqualified from holding an operator’s licence for 12 months. He was disqualified indefinitely from acting as a transport manager. In a telephone conversation with DVSA, Simon Jewkes accepted that the vehicle was not being parked at his operating centre in Oldbury, but at Willenhall (the location of the operating centre which had been on the licence of Albion Metal and Waste Ltd).

DVSA’s conclusion was that the two vehicles specified on Simon Jewkes’s licence were not being operated by him but by companies which did not hold an operator’s licence and which were run by directors who had been disqualified from holding licences. He was in effect lending his licence to entities which were not entitled to operate.

3. Public inquiry

Concerned by DVSA’s report, I called Simon Jewkes to a public inquiry in his capacity both as operator and transport manager. The inquiry was held by video link on 18 February 2021. Present were Simon Jewkes and DVSA traffic examiner Tracy Love.

Simon Jewkes did not bring any maintenance or drivers’ hours documentation to the inquiry. Nor was any evidence of finances supplied. He accepted that he had lent his licence out and had had nothing to do with the vehicles. He had had “a domineering father” who had persuaded him to put Barry Jewkes’s vehicle on his operator licence. He had put Tahir Aziz’s vehicle on the licence to help “a friend of a friend out of a pickle”. Simon Jewkes accepted that this arrangement had involved some payment to him, although this had more or less fizzled out at some stage. He had not considered that he was doing anything wrong, although he now knew that this was incorrect.

4. Findings

After having considered the evidence, I make the following findings:

• the operator has failed to fulfil his undertakings and promises:-

a) to ensure that vehicles are kept fit and serviceable;

b) to ensure that rules relating to tachographs and drivers’ hours are observed;

c) that drivers’ would report defects in writing;

d) that vehicles would be given safety inspections every six weeks.

• by specifying vehicles on his licence over which he has had no control, Simon Jewkes has in effect lent his licence to entities which did not have a licence and which were being run by directors who had previously been disqualified from holding a licence.

• because of his conduct described in sub-paragraph ii) above, Simon Jewkes cannot be considered to be of good repute. I do not accept that he did not realise that his conduct was wrong: he was fully aware that he had specified vehicles on his licence but that he had no knowledge of or control over their maintenance, who was driving them, whether tachograph units and driver cards were being downloaded etc etc. He cannot possibly have thought this to be acceptable.

5. Balancing act

There is nothing to put on the positive side of the balance against the negative findings above, apart from the fact that Simon Jewkes at least did not try to hide the fact that he had lent out his licence.

6. Conclusions

Simon Jewkes’s good repute is lost, both as operator and transport manager. His conduct in facilitating operations by companies and individuals who have no right to operate demonstrates conclusively that he absolutely cannot be trusted to comply in the future (the Priority Freight question). His reckless lending of his licence has given the outward cloak of respectability to entities which have operated vehicles entirely outside the law. This has constituted grossly unfair competition against those operators who comply with the law and has been a severe threat to road safety. He deserves to go out of business (the Bryan Haulage question).

6.1 Licence revocation

Simon Jewkes’s good repute having been lost, revocation of the licence is mandatory under Section 27(1)(a) and (b) of the 1995 Act. Given that he is not operating the vehicles on his licence and does not therefore need a period of notice in which to wind down the business, the revocation takes immediate effect.

6.2 Disqualification

Because I have concluded that Simon Jewkes is not of good repute, I must also disqualify him from being a transport manager on any licence (Schedule 3 to the 1995 Act refers). I do so for an unlimited period of time. Mr Jewkes’s misconduct has been so serious that there should be no place in the industry for him in the future.

For the same reasons I am also disqualifying Mr Jewkes indefinitely under Section 28 of the 1995 Act from holding or obtaining an operator licence in the future (and from being the director of a company holding or obtaining one).

6.3 Continued operation of the vehicles

I have little confidence that either Speedwell Transport Ltd or ASG Industries Ltd will cease operating their respective vehicles now that Simon Jewkes’s licence has been revoked. Both companies have demonstrated that they are quite happy to operate outside the law. I am therefore requesting DVSA and the Police to employ their ANPR and on-road resources to identify and stop vehicles BU51 WKK and YN57 LYK with a view to seizing and eventually crushing them if their illegal operation is confirmed.

Nicholas Denton

Traffic Commissioner

19 February 2021