Note of Oral Decision for D&G International Transport Ltd (OD2035378) and Mr Dan Duma (‘the Proposed Transport Manager’)
The Deputy Traffic Commissioner for the West Midlands Note of Oral Decision for D&G International Transport Ltd (OD2035378) and Mr Dan Duma (‘the Proposed Transport Manager’)
Documents
Details
The Deputy Traffic Commissioner for the West Midlands decided:
The Operator
The Operator’s Standard International Operator’s Licence is REVOKED with effect from 23.59 hours on 31 July 2022, under:
(i) the following provisions of section 27 (1) (a) of the Act –
(a) the licence holder no longer satisfies the provisions of section 13A(2) of the Act requiring me to be satisfied that the Operator—
(b) is of good repute (as determined in accordance with paragraphs 1 to 5 of Schedule 3),
and
(d) is professionally competent (as determined in accordance with paragraphs 8 to 13 of Schedule 3); and
(ii) using the discretion afforded to me under Section 26 (1) of the Act, having found that the following grounds specified in Section 26 (1) of the Act are made out from the evidence accepted and adopted by me and determined that it is appropriate and proportionate to do so:
Section 26 (1) (c) (iii)
the Operator’s vehicles or drivers have been issued with prohibition notices by DVSA or the Police in the last 5 years- since the licence was granted on 21 October 2020;
Section 26 (1) (f)
that the Operator has breached the undertakings attached to its licence when issued to have proper arrangements in place-
-
To keep the vehicles and trailers operated under this licence, including hired vehicles and trailers, fit and serviceable;
-
To ensure that the rules on drivers’ hours and tachograph records are met and to keep proper records;
-
To notify material changes in the circumstances of the Operator within no more than 28 days;
Section 26 (1) (h)
that there has been since the licence was granted a material change in any of the circumstances of the holder of the licence which were relevant to the issue of its licence, in this case:
-
the foregoing;
-
the Operator’s failure to have an effective correspondence address and to respond to correspondence sent to the address and email addresses for correspondence given on licence records (apparently the address of its accountant which is also the company’s registered office and address given for the director at Companies House) and the two nominated operating centres, concerning compliance concerns sent by DVSA and the Traffic Commissioner;
-
the Operator’s failure to comply with the Public Inquiry process by the provision of documents requested in the letter calling it to the Inquiry listed for hearing at 14.00 hours on 23 June 2022 that should have been supplied at least 7 days prior to that date and its further failure to cooperate with the Inquiry process by attendance at the listed hearing of 23 June 2022 represented by its director or an appointed representative;
-
the Operator’s failure to notify the material changes in its professional competence once it became apparent to the Operator that its former Transport Manager Mr Florin Buzle was not exercising the effective and continuous management of the transport activities of the company required by him as the transport manager, such that it appears to me from the evidence of Mr Dan Duma that Mr Buzle was acting as the transport manager in name only for a significant period prior to his resignation effective 1 April 2022 and that the Operator was aware of this and continued paying him;
-
the Operator’s failure through its sole director Mr Dan Duma, who gained his CPC in Transport Management for goods vehicles in February 2022 in Romania, to comply with licence undertakings to ensure that systems and records were managed and monitored between the date of Mr Buzle’s resignation and the date of the adjourned Inquiry, with a box of maintenance related records produced in total disarray and no evidence whatsoever of analysis and follow up of historic downloads by the Operator of driver cards and vehicle unit data, prior to the extremely recent engagement of Invergold Associates as consultants and the work carried out by them with the director over the previous few days, remaining incomplete due to problems accessing the data on the Operator’s system including driver card data;
-
Mr Dan Duma’s absences from the UK, in Romania, the full extent of which remain unclear but are accepted for at least the last two weeks and on and off prior to then due to personal family issues requiring his presence in the country. His passport had expired 13 June 2022. In his absences, two former drivers including Mr Gabriel Obrisan are delegated supervision of the drivers in the UK in liaison with him concerning work instructions, assisted by his daughter managing the night shift work, by telephone. Records have been kept at Mr Duma’s rented UK residence at 87 Portland Drive, which is multiple occupation and was also rented by the former Transport manager until April 2022. It appears to me from my review of the records that Mr Duma paid scant attention to these records before or after the departure of the former transport manager;
-
the Operator has been without a nominated transport manager in place since at least April 2022 with no period of grace applied for from the requirements of professional competence. The application to vary the licence to add Mr Dan Duma as transport manager was withdrawn at the Inquiry. A covering letter and TM (1) form was provided to me at the Inquiry, dated Sunday 26 June 2022, to add a Mr Carl Partington as a Transport Manager but this remained to be completed and processed by the Central Licensing team in Leeds for my consideration and Mr Partington was unable to attend the Inquiry. It appears to me that, as at the date of Inquiry, the requirements of professional competence were still not met.
As the operator’s licence has been revoked the application to vary the licence is also effectively refused.
The Proposed Transport Manager, Mr Dan Duma
The application to vary the licence to add Mr Duma as the nominated transport manager for this licence was withdrawn at the Inquiry and he is not acting as a Transport Manager on any operator’s licence at this time. I have found that the Operator has lost its good repute and Mr Duma is the sole director of the Operator company. If Mr Duma seeks to act as a Transport Manager for any licence in future, he will need to satisfy the Traffic Commissioner that he is of the appropriate good repute and professional competence at that time having regard to this decision.
Disqualification under section 28
I have not made an order under section 28 against the company or its director Mr Dan Duma. My decision was very close on this issue but, on balance, I determined there remains a future possibility that the requirements for a new licence may be met but will, at the very least, require the following to satisfy the Traffic Commissioner that good repute has been regained and the Operator shall be compliant in future despite this very poor history:
-
tangible credible evidence of the director’s place of actual residence and of his predominant physical presence in the UK;
-
formal interpreter support in place for the purposes of dealing with operator licence compliance and the communications with the DVSA and the Traffic Commissioner and arrangements in place to ensure licence records are accurate and all material changes are notified;
-
regular contracted transport consultancy support and participation as well as a robust effective external transport manager engaged for extended hours and a formal regular written reporting regime to the director by the consultant and the transport manager to be formally translated into Romanian by an interpreter;
-
written confirmations from each of the transport consultant and the proposed transport manager each undertaking to advise the traffic commissioner promptly in writing
(i) if they have concerns regarding the compliance of the operator with advice and instructions given by them to ensure compliance with the law and the operator’s licence and/or the effectiveness of the systems and records in place to achieve compliance; and/or (ii) of their resignation.
For the avoidance of doubt, whilst I have not made a separate order of disqualification, this does not in any way indicate that any future application may be granted and, if and when made, shall be determined before the revocation of this licence takes effect.