That’s the warning from senior traffic commissioner Richard Turfitt, who was commenting after revoking a tipper operator’s licence.
Traffic commissioners will take into account any improvements made ahead of a hearing, he explained. However, he added: “There are instances where revocation is justified even at the first public inquiry because the operator has already had the chance to put things right by the date of the hearing but failed to do so.”
Vehicle and driver safety regimes should be top priority, he said, even more so when the operator is put on notice. “Operators should be attending a public inquiry with evidence of what they have done to rectify the issues and be able to show improvements in the compliance regime, if they don’t want to face the possibility of losing their licence.”
At a public inquiry last month, tipper operator Malcolm Mandley, trading as Mandley Bros, failed to provide evidence that he had addressed problems with driver defect reporting. He had also not introduced dynamic brake tests, despite DVSA advice in January.
Turfitt (then traffic commissioner for the East of England) revoked Mandley’s licence from 31 July and disqualified him from acting as a transport manager for one year, ruling that he must take and pass the CPC examination.