At a public inquiry last month (13 March), West Midlands traffic commissioner Nick Denton heard that when a DVSA examiner stopped one of the firm’s vehicles last June, there were several tachograph failings.
The vehicle was being driven by transport manager Rajinder Khokhar: tachograph charts were not complete but one showed the vehicle had been driven by a friend, whose O licence had lapsed in 2005.
The O licence for City Buses was held by Khokhar’s wife, Arvind, who subsequently admitted to a DVSA examiner that she “had nothing to do” with the operation.
The investigation also revealed numerous and repeated tachograph infringements by drivers, including Rajinder Khokhar. The regulator was told that the transport manager had little knowledge of regulations on drivers’ hours, record keeping and working time. Mr Khokhar admitted to falsifying documents in order to appear compliant; and he was unable to account for a large amount of missing mileage or fraudulent entries which had clearly been made on some tachograph charts.
Neither Arvind nor Rajinder Khokhar attended the inquiry.
The traffic commissioner revoked the O licence; disqualified Arvind Khokhar from holding an O licence in future and from being a director of any company holding an O licence. He also disqualified Rajinder Khokhar indefinitely from acting as transport manager for any operator.