Minibus operator with one of Teesside's largest taxi firms loses licence as Commissioner queries firms' 'fuzzy' dealings Ansar Akbar, who trades as Blueline Travel, had minibus licence revoked :: Linked company North East Cars received licence for six minibuses
A minibus operator with one of Teesside’s largest taxi firms has lost his licence at a public inquiry.
Ansar Akbar, who trades as Blueline Travel, had his licence to operate two minibuses revoked by the Traffic Commissioner for the North-east at a public inquiry held in Middlesbrough.
But in a separate hearing held yesterday at Teesside University the director of North East Cars Limited was granted a standard national licence for six minibuses - which could be extended to 13 if certain conditions are met.
They will operate under the Blueline umbrella.
During the hearing, Commissioner Kevin Rooney heard about Mr Akbar’s poor record keeping, poor scheduling of maintenance to minibuses, and insufficient systems to record drivers’ hours.
Mr Akbar said his minibuses were used to fulfill a school-run contract with Middlesbrough Council, and then took on work from Blueline Taxis’ main switchboard at other times.
He said that he jointly owned the two vehicles with Iftikar Khalil, a director of North East Cars Limited, and that the two vehicles were insured by that company - a situation which Mr Rooney called “fuzzy”.
Commissioner Kevin Rooney heard during the inquiry that one of Mr Akbar’s drivers, who no longer works for the company, had been prosecuted for a number of drivers’ hours offences in August 2014.
An inspection found he had removed a card from a tachograph which tracks the number of hours he had been driving for, and not taken legally enforced breaks, on December 26 and 31, 2013.
That minibus also had a defective tyre which “could have blown at any moment”, said Mr Rooney.
Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency inspectors later found that another two drivers had been found without a card in their tachographs in August and December 2014.
Mr Rooney said: “I am going to revoke the licence. The situation is that in the 12 months since you had a dangerous vehicle being driven by a driver who was over his hours and removing his card.
“There were no systems in place for tracking hours driven, and you were paying them, so you should have known how many hours they worked.
“There is a very fuzzy lack of distinction between you and North East Cars Limited.”
Beverley Brown, who runs Middlesbrough-based Celestial transport and training consultancy which began working with Mr Akbar in August, told the hearing she had put a number of new systems in place and that “we are definitely making headway”.
Mr Rooney continued: “I will not disqualify you (Ansar Akbar) from applying again as maintenance and records have got better.”
The licence will be revoked from midnight on February 6.
In a separate hearing afterwards, North East Cars Ltd - represented at the hearing by director Waseel Khalil and financial advisor Abdul Akbar - were granted a licence for six minibuses.
Mr Rooney did hear details of a prohibition on one of their vehicles, after an incident in which it lost a wheel while driving on the A19 back to Teesside from Leeds in April last year.
Mr Abdul Akbar said that there were no passengers in the vehicle at the time.
Commissioner Mr Rooney said that the six minibus licence could be extended to thirteen vehicles once an independent audit of management systems is completed, with a condition it is repeated annually.
It was conditional on Beverley Brown, who will become transport manager on the licence, providing the commissioner with proof of her qualifications.
source:
http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teess ... st-8401620
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