[2025] UKUT 283 (AAC)

It is of note that upon receipt of RTI’s application for a stay pending appeal, a further submission was made to the TC in which it was averred that the letter of 3^rd February 2025 sent to RTI did not “appear to explicitly state that the signed TM1 form had to be sent by post” and that in the correspondence generally, RTI had not been “explicitly informed that they needed to send this in the post”. We agree with that submission. There is nothing in the case papers which could be read as a direction of that nature. The fact that Mr Poole volunteered to send a hard copy by post in addition to uploading the form onto the VOL system is insufficient to make that a mandatory requirement which if not fulfilled, warranted the revocation of the licence. The notice sent to operators made it clear that by 31^st January 2025, operators must use the VOL system alone to file TM1 forms. That is what RTI did on 20^th February 2025. In all the circumstances, it was plainly wrong to revoke the operator’s licence on 10^th March 2025 and the matter must be remitted to the TC for further consideration.

There is of course, the issues of financial standing and change of directors which remain matters to be considered by the TC as his revocation decision clearly did not take them into account. His decision was based solely on the TM1 form and whether it had been filed in time and in the correct manner.