Hamilton Grays Limited of Devon has had its licence revoked due to loss of financial standing. The licence revocation will take effect from 2359hrs, 31 October 2018.
The operator was recalled to public inquiry to address ongoing financial standing matters, the period of grace having expired.
The Traffic Commissioner for the West of England, Kevin Rooney, said: “The company has had nothing near financial standing required until two injections of capital on 28 May, two days before the period of grace expired.
“It has long been established that traffic commissioners should consider funds over a period of three months. Doing that, the financial standing is very far from being met, even including the two capital deposits.
“Since the funds were injected on 28 May 2018, there have been five reversed payments, bounced cheques in old language. I am told that this is due to timing of fund requests, which are apparently sensitive even to the time of day.
“The purpose of financial standing is to ensure the proper administration of the business including that bills are paid as they fall due. This has not been achieved even since 28 May. I therefore find that the funds are not genuinely available as and when they are needed.
“It is entirely unacceptable for providers to standard licence holders to have payments reversed due to unavailability of funds. It is all the more unacceptable when the supplier is a driver, relying on his wage to pay his bills and that has happened with this operator.
“The operator has failed to establish financial standing and the licence is revoked. I am not aware of any safety-related compliance concerns. I can therefore allow a period for the company to effectively re-group and make a new application, the finances for which will need to meet the requirements of the Senior Traffic Commissioner’s guidance in full for an ongoing business.”
