A car transporter and recovery firm has had its licence curtailed for 14 days after an employee was convicted for driving without a valid CPC – just a few months after the operator had appeared at a public inquiry.

South Ockendon-based Transcars was given a formal warning by Deputy Traffic Commissioner Miles Dorrington in March 2014, only for driver David O’Brien to be fined by Northampton Magistrates’ Court less than two months later.

O'Brien was stopped at the roadside and could not produce his driver CPC qualification card, having passed his test in August 2012. He had not undertaken any of the required training modules.

At a public inquiry on July 14 in Cambridge this year, the Deputy Commissioner heard  that  director and transport manager Ben Norton did not check whether the driver held a CPC or if he had taken any modules before he was allowed to use one of the company’s vehicles.

During an interview with a DVSA examiner, Norton said the driver told him he had the CPC because he had passed his class 2 test. The driver also indicated that he had been stopped several times before.

Norton confirmed he had not seen a driver CPC card before allowing the vehicle to be used.

O’Brien had been in company’s employment since June 2010, initially as a trade plate driver. He moved to driving other vehicles in November 2013.

During his own interview, O’Brien said he did not realise he was required to obtain an initial driver CPC qualification after passing his test. He thought the deadline was September 2014 and admitted he had not completed any module towards initial driver CPC qualification.

The Deputy Traffic Commissioner was made aware of additional offences committed by other drivers working for the company, alongside convictions sustained by the business itself.

The company pleaded guilty in June 2015 to one offence of using a vehicle with a defective tachograph and was fined £400. The firm was also convicted in  March 2015  of  using  a vehicle without a current test certificate in force.

A driver, Daniel Wilson, was convicted in his absence of failing to produce a record book or tachograph sheets (domestic rules), incorrect use of mode switch, using a vehicle  with a defective tachograph and two offences of failing to use  tachograph record sheets or printout or manual input facilities to record other work (driver). He was fined a total of £350.

Three  other  drivers  sustained convictions and were reported for offences including failure to keep records, exceeding 4.5 hours driving without a break and knowingly making false records.

Recording  a curtailment of the company’s licence from six to four vehicles for  two  weeks,  the  Deputy  Commissioner  said revocation would be “very likely” if there are any further adverse outcomes at public inquiry. The curtailment began on July 17 and will end on July 31.

He also ruled that Norton, as transport manager, had lost his good repute and would be disqualified from acting in that role until he has completed a transport manager refresher course. The company has a six-week period of grace to appoint a new transport manager.

Dorrington noted that he had issued a formal warning to both the company and the transport manager at the previous inquiry on the basis of assurances about future compliance and that no further issues would arise as a result of the company’s approach.

On that occasion, the business had been called before the regulator as a result of maintenance concerns, including the issue of two S marked prohibitions, along with a  number of fixed penalties and tachograph and drivers’ hours offences.

At the conclusion of a driver conduct hearing for O’Brien, the Deputy Commissioner made an order to suspend his vocational licence from 23:59 on August 7 to 23:59 on August 10.

O’Brien gave evidence that he had completed the required CPC modules and obtained his driver CPC card.