REASONS FOR DECISION
1.This is an appeal from the decision of the Deputy Traffic Commissioner for the East of England (“DTC”) dated 10th August 2021 when he refused the Appellant’s application for a standard international operator’s licence under s.13(2)(b) and Schedule 3 of the Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Act 1995 (“the 1995 Act”).2.The background to this appeal can be found in the appeal bundle and the written decision and has been helpfully summarised by the DTC in this way:•The company S&D Haulage Limited, which was incorporated on 18 September 2020, made an application for a standard international licence authorising 10 vehicles on the 23 September 2020. The sole director of the company is Alina Ramona Caseriu and at the time of the application the nominated transport manager was Ionut Caseriu. An application to change the nominated transport manager to Elvis-Giani Hudescu was made on the 3 December 2020.•Ionut Caseriu is the sole director and transport manager of Trans-Chriss Limited. An operator’s licence is in force for that company authorising 10 vehicles and the operating centre is the same as that nominated in the current application.•While processing the application it was noted that financial standing was established by a bank account held in the company name and deposits through loans into that account had been made by A Caseriu and £20,000 from Trans-Chriss Limited. A request for information in relation to the latter amount was sent, and a reply received from Ionut Caseriu in which he said that the loan had been made on an interest free basis for 48 months. •It was noted that there was an ongoing investigation by the DVSA in relation to the licence held by Trans-Chriss Limited. A traffic examiner first contacted Mr Caseriu in August 2020 in relation to the investigation.•Because of the apparent links between the individuals involved in the application and the financial arrangements surrounding the loans it was decided to determine the application at public inquiry. 3.The public Inquiry took place on 4th August 2021. Alina Caseriu (“Mrs Caseriu”) attended along with her husband, Ionut Caseriu (“Mr Caseriu”). Whilst Mr Hudescu (the nominated transport manager and Mrs Caseriu’s brother) had confirmed that he would be attending the hearing in person, he in fact flew to Romania the day before the hearing and an urgent application was granted to hear his evidence over a video link. 4.Mr Hudescu told the DTC that he was the sole director of LGW Trans Limited which held an operating licence authorising four vehicles, with three in possession. The operating centre was in the same yard as Trans-Chriss Limited which was also the proposed operating centre of the Appellant company. He replaced Mr Caseriu as the nominated transport manager on the Appellant’s licence application because he has more time to devote to the role of transport manager for the Appellant company. 5.Mrs Caseriu informed the DTC that she was employed in Mr Caseriu’s business which mainly undertakes Amazon for work along with some sub-contracting for Tesco and Sainsbury. Over time she had gained knowledge about commercial vehicle operations; she had helped her husband with the maintenance records and she had watched him download the digital cards and she had done her own research. At that time, Trans-Chriss Ltd was operating ten vehicles and employed fifteen drivers. Four of the vehicles were no longer new enough for Amazon and could not be used on the Amazon contract. It was decided that those vehicles should be used on other work and that four new vehicles would be rented via Amazon. Mr and Mrs Caseriu had discussed their options and it was her suggestion that rather than make an application to extend the vehicle authorisation on the Trans-Chriss licence from ten to fifteen, that Mrs Caseriu should apply for her own licence. She averred that Amazon did not like using large transport operations. During one of the monthly operator audits that Amazon undertakes, Mr Caseriu had asked about opportunities which might be available for Mrs Caseriu. The Amazon representative/Business Coach confirmed that there were business opportunities for females who wished to start their own businesses (something Amazon was keen to promote). She would be granted a contract with different rules to that applicable to Trans-Chriss Limited. She advised that Amazon are in control of all aspects of the operation contracted by them even down to paying for the fuel. The only aspect of the business they did not control was the hire of the drivers. Mrs Caseriu insisted that the establishment of her business and the application for a licence, being approximately one month after Mr Caseriu had been contacted by the DVSA to notify him of an investigation, was an unfortunate coincidence. Her application had been delayed because of the difficulties in opening a business account with HSBC. She accepted that she would work with her husband and described the three companies as a “big family”. She told the DTC that she was a trained Forestry Engineer and that her husband had worked hard to maintain the family.6.Mr Caseriu informed the DTC that a DVSA investigation had begun because his company had encountered difficulties with drivers. One driver did not check his tachographs and then seven drivers left at the same time and returned to Romania. Mr Caseriu was forced to reduce his contracts by half in order to keep going. Moreover, he had had a long association with Gold Star Transport, a container company. The rates were low and then as a result of the pandemic, the rates were cut further forcing Mr Caseriu and Mr Hudescu to turn to Amazon. The contracts were not the best but high standards were maintained. They require operators to use brand new vehicles and no vehicles more than five years old. The vehicles are rented under financial arrangements negotiated on their behalf by Amazon with truck suppliers and pays £80 per month towards the hire charges for each vehicle which is displaying the Amazon livery. He had told Amazon that he did not want to operate more than ten vehicles but had said that his wife would like a business. He agreed with the evidence of his wife.