Millmans Coaches licence revoked
The operator’s licence of Devon-based Millmans Coaches, trading as Grey Cars, has been revoked.
Traffic Commissioner, Kevin Rooney, decided to revoke the licence after a series of vehicle defects were found on its fleet, resulting in multiple prohibitions. Defects included a diesel leak that caused Devon County Council to have to resurface 100m of road.
The licence holder is no longer of good repute, the TC rules, and Paul Hamlyn-White has lost his good repute as Transport Manager for one year and until he has passed his Transport Manager certificate of professional competence.
The TC was told that Mr Hamlyn-White had been too busy to complete inspection reports contemporaneously and they hadn’t been completed since March 2022. Roller brake tests had not been conducted in line with the undertaking.
The company had issues with attracting and retaining skilled technical staff. One technician, Paul Marshall, had left in April 2022. Mr Hamlyn-White took on the inspections.
The TC said: “Mr Hamlyn-White decided to take on the mantle. His qualifications? A driving licence, a three-day basic inspection course and some time helping the former director in the workshop. That he has on numerous occasions dismantled a braking system and replaced seemingly perfectly good parts to try to get more brake efficiency out of a brake that has already locked would be funny if it were not so serious.”
“Good intentions on their own are not enough to run a safe and compliant public service vehicle operation” – Traffic Commissioner, Kevin Rooney
Kevin Rooney continued: “So can I trust this operator to be compliant in the future? The historical evidence suggests that I cannot. The deficit in competence of those in control, particularly the Transport Manager, suggests that I cannot. The history since the DVSA intervention, including a vehicle failing the MOT for service brake performance, suggests that I cannot. Good intentions on their own are not enough to run a safe and compliant public service vehicle operation. I conclude that this is not an operator that I can trust to be compliant in the future.”