Case No. UKUT-00272-(AAC)

3.It is important that the Department is satisfied as to the legal status of an applicant or operator. By way of example, the Upper Tribunal has stressed that in the eyes of the law a sole trader and a limited company are quite different legal people or legal entities. It is the legal entity which operates the vehicles which must hold an operator’s licence [2012/008 Brian Richards t/a B Richards]. A company or other corporate body has a distinct legal personality from its members (shareholders), officers or directors. In other cases, it may be necessary to determine the individual(s) responsible for the undertaking, for example the partners in a partnership, where restrictions might apply2 2 Regulation 27 of The Goods Vehicle (Licensing of Operators) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012 states that a ‘firm’ (partnership) shall be treated as separate to an individual partner or the relationship with another corporate body3 3 Regulation 28 of The Goods Vehicle (Licensing of Operators) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012. Regulation 4 of the Goods Vehicles (Qualifications of Operators) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012 makes it a condition of a standard licence for operators to inform the Department within 28 days of any change in the name or legal form of the undertaking and the address of establishment.