Case No. UKUT-00320-(AAC)

20.The TC decided to refuse the licence application pursuant to Section 13A(2)(b) of the Act for the stated reason “The applicant is not of good repute”. With respect to REL Storage and Logistics Limited it was decided to issue that company with “a formal warning that it must notify material changes within 28 days of them occurring”. It also decided that the good repute of its transport manager was retained.21.22.As to the OTC’s pre-PI hearing research, the TC recorded:“4.CLO’s research discovered that Andy Scott (who had essentially provided the finance for the applicant company Haulage) had previously been a director of REL Limited, REL Coffee Limited, Dova Interiors Limited and Woodcraft Tower Hotel Limited, all of which companies had been dissolved following compulsory strike off. A further two companies of which he had been director, Oxford Hotel Management Limited and Woodcraft Hotel Bournemouth Limited had entered liquidation.5.CLO also found that Adam Lewis, the director of BB and Storage, had also been a director of Bison Transport Limited (which entered liquidation in February 2020) and Roadways Express Limited (entered liquidation in October 2020). 23.The TC then went on to explain that:“6.Because of fears that the application by Haulage might be a device to sidestep liability for debts incurred by BB and Storage, and because the track record of both Andy Scott and Adam Lewis appeared to be littered with failed companies, the traffic commissioner for the East of England decided to call the application to a public inquiry.24.We pause there to note that both Mr Lewis and Mr Scott have disputed a number of the findings of the TC including those relating to their past business records and have sought to vigorously defend their conduct and their business methodology. We are not making any findings of our own as to the business methodology of either of them. They are not on trial before us.25.The TC observed, in his written reasons, that he had drawn Mr Lewis’s attention to what he described as “the significant criticisms of his conduct made in the Liquidators Report concerning Roadways Express Limited” a company which had entered liquidation in September of 2020, seemingly with significant debts including a debt to HMRC. The TC also noted that Mr Lewis disagreed with those criticisms “and was in the process of challenging them”. There then followed this:“20.I observe that the bank statements provided by Haulage in support of its application suggested that the company might already be operating HGV’s. Regular vehicle tax payments to DVLA and salaries to drivers were being recorded. Mr Newman admitted that the company “might have jumped the gun a bit”.”26.The above seems to suggest the appellant company had or at the very least might have commenced operating in a way which required a licence without actually having one. We must confess to some surprise that more was not made of this. After referring to the post PI hearing research and Mr Newman’s response (see above) the TC went on to set out his findings and reasoning. This is what he said:“