Licence lending results in revocation

An operator whose transport manager lent out her personal licence authority to another business has now had its O-licence revoked. Corrina Jenkinson, transport manager at Poole-based MAC Transport, was found by a traffic commissioner (TC) to have lent her O-licence out to sole trader Charles Drain for a decade (CM 2 March). The matter came to light when Drain applied for a new licence, explaining that he had decided to “continue operating in a safe manner” and now MAC has had its licence taken away by TC Kevin Rooney, because its transport manager had lost her good repute.

The TC also found that finances at MAC Transport had revealed a “heavy reliance on credit cards”. The haulier, whose directors were named as Michael and Michelle Chatten, plus Jenkinson, did not appear at a public inquiry (PI) in the Western Traffic Area. However, in his written decision, TC Rooney said: “Lending licence authority is a very serious matter, hiding from the regulator the true operator of the vehicle.

“Mrs Jenkinson tells me that she had little to do with [Drain’s] licence from 2012, so who was managing the transport operation?

“Facilitating the lending of licence authority over a period of almost 10 years causes me to find that her good repute as transport manager is forfeit.”

The TC added that no finances had been provided by the operator ahead of the PI; however, he had no reason to question the good repute of the operator.