Leeds-based SGI Community Transport CIC (SGICT) has been ordered to pay 3,850 by Traffic Commissioner (TC) Kevin Rooney, for failing to operate bus services in accordance with its registered details.
In addition the TC banned it from using large buses on its seven large bus permits, and refused an application for an additional five permits.
SGICT, of The Crescent, Adel, Leeds, had been called before the TC at a Leeds Public Inquiry, but failed to attend.
The TC said that SGICT’s Director Dale Steel had a short but already chequered history operating PSVs. On 11 January 2013 he was the sole director of Steel Group Investments, which was granted a restricted PSV O-Licence. It quickly came to his attention that Mr Steel was using the licence, which authorised vehicles of nine-16 seats, to operate at least one full-size single-deck bus.
It became apparent that he had ceased using the bus under his restricted licence and it was being used by SGICT under Section 22 permits. Mr Steel’s offer to surrender the restricted licence was accepted.
SGICT was called to a preliminary hearing on 19 March 2014 as a result of complaints and concerns in relation to service reliability, the company’s response to VOSA’s concerns, and social media material posted by the company and/or its agents suggesting it was in some way in a dispute with Arriva Yorkshire, some of which was grossly offensive. A formal warning was given.
The complaints continued, leading the DVSA to conduct a monitoring exercise.
While that exercise was ongoing, the DVSA’s customer contact centre received a complaint from a driver from Arriva Dewsbury relating to anti-competitive behaviour, alleging that SGICT drivers were instructed to stay in front of Arriva Buses at all times, causing them to speed and overtake unsafely.
Traffic Examiner Joanna Batley said that on Tuesday 31 March, she was on duty observing SGICT at Dewsbury Bus Station with her colleague Ann Anderson. A SGICT vehicle pulled on to the stand at 1300hrs, displaying on its destination board route 284 to Thornhill.
She saw that the vehicle was displaying an O-Licence identity disc in the name of Dean Hawkins, trading as Station Coaches, with whom SGICT shared an operating centre. She introduced herself to the driver, who said he was working for Dale Steel. He wasn’t aware of what sort of disc was in the window.
He pulled the vehicle off the stand to a layover area. He then returned to base, saying that he hadn’t been paid by Mr Steel and wasn’t happy to run the service without the correct licence disc.
SGICT had seven permits, but analysis of their timetables showed a PVR of 10. She monitored 97 journeys on two services in October. Forty-two ran more than one minute early, two ran more than five minutes late, and 15 failed to operate.
On 24 October a SGICT vehicle was not waiting at the timing point but on the opposite side of the road outside residential properties. The vehicle did not depart from the bus stop or attempt to wait at the bus stop. A passenger had to cross the road to pick up the SGICT service. When the Arriva bus arrived, the SGICT bus departed early.
For Mr Hawkins, Harry Bowyer said that his information was that the SGICT buses had been parked up since April.
Mr Hawkins said that he had borrowed a vehicle from SGICT following a breakdown. His disc had therefore been in the window, but he had gone on holiday and not realised the disc had stayed there when the vehicle was again used by SGICT.
The TC said that service deficiencies from June to October 2014 had compliance levels between 36% and 39%, dramatically below the 95% standard.
The allegations of predatory behaviour appeared to be confirmed by the evidence of TE Batley.
Were this a holder of a national PSV O-Licence, the holder’s repute would be very much in question. Loss of good repute was, though, not a legal ground for the withdrawal or revocation of a Section 22 bus permit.
It was clear that the performance and behaviour of SGICT fell very far below that expected of an operator of PSVs. Yet the legislation did not allow him to revoke the permit and disqualify the holder from applying for more. It might be that Parliament never envisaged a CIC operating in that way, but the fact that SGICT was registered as a CIC did not appear to have caused the business to adopt a high moral standard, nor to act with any degree of integrity.
The TC ordered the company to pay the maximum penalty of 550 per vehicle and attached a condition to the existing permits that no large bus can be used.
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