A Birmingham poultry firm has had its transport licence suspended for two weeks after previous illegal vehicle operations were uncovered.
West Midlands Traffic Commissioner, Nick Denton, found that Adam Halal Foods flouted a 2014 decision revoking its previous licence – by continuing to run vehicles under another operator’s licence.
He concluded that the firm’s current licence, issued in 2015, would most likely not have been granted if the illegal operation had been known at that time.
“I cannot simply ignore the very serious unlawful operation which took place before the grant of the licence, flouting the intention behind TC Jones’s revocation of the previous licence,” he said.
Ruling that a meaningful period of suspension was merited, Denton accepted the company had improved since the 2014 public inquiry into its previous licence, which dealt with driver falsification of tachographs.
He said the period of suspension would allow the firm to arrange training for the director and drivers to address remaining compliance issues, including drivers driving without cards (for short distances) and defect reporting.
The suspension took effect on 13 November. Mr Denton also curtailed the company’s licence to one vehicle indefinitely and on the day of the public inquiry, 2 November.
Mohammed Salim, the operator who allowed Adam Halal Foods to run vehicles under his licence, lost his licence on the day of the hearing and was disqualified indefinitely from holding or obtaining an operator’s licence. He failed to attend the inquiry.