Egertons Recovery Group Limited

Professional competence is not acquired merely because an operator designates a qualified transport manager. The proposed manager must be formally nominated and accepted by the traffic commissioner after the required regulatory matters have been considered. A period of grace is a dispensation following an established loss of professional competence. If the operator does not rectify the position within that period, revocation is mandatory. The operator is not entitled to a further section 27(2) notice or renewed opportunity to request an inquiry after the period expires. The 28-day notification conditions in the Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Act 1995 do not extend the period of grace.

The operator held a standard international operator’s licence. Its transport manager resigned, leaving it without the required professional competence. The Traffic Commissioner issued a notice under section 27(2) of the Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Act 1995, granted a period of grace, and later extended it to the statutory maximum.

The operator did not submit the required application and evidence for a replacement transport manager before the period expired. The Traffic Commissioner revoked the licence under section 27(1)(a). The appeal alleged that a replacement had already been designated, that further notice and a public inquiry were required, and that the procedure breached the right to a fair hearing.

1. Appeal dismissed. The revocation of the operator’s licence took effect immediately.
2. Professional competence requires more than the private designation of a proposed transport manager. Under Article 4 of the Regulation (EC) No 1071/2009 and section 13A(3) of the Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Act 1995, the traffic commissioner must be satisfied about the manager’s good repute, professional competence, connection with the undertaking, residence, and any applicable limits on the number of undertakings or vehicles managed. The TM1 application and supporting documents are therefore substantive regulatory requirements, not merely administrative notification.
3. The word “designate” indicates that further action remains after identifying a proposed manager. An operator does not regain professional competence until the manager has been formally nominated and accepted by the traffic commissioner.
4. Article 13.1 of the Regulation (EC) No 1071/2009 and section 27 of the 1995 Act establish a two-stage process. The first stage is notice that the undertaking risks no longer satisfying a requirement. The second is a period of grace after the traffic commissioner establishes that the requirement is no longer satisfied. A period of grace may be granted after, rather than within, the original section 27(2) notice.
5. The original notice and the letter granting the period of grace, read together, complied with the statutory and regulatory scheme. A second section 27(2) notice and a repeated offer of a public inquiry were unnecessary. The grant of a period of grace was not a decision finally declining to revoke the licence. It was a temporary dispensation from otherwise mandatory revocation.
6. Under Article 13.3 and section 27(3B), revocation follows inevitably if the operator has not rectified the position by the end of the period of grace. The notification conditions in section 22(2) concern material changes and cannot be used to extend the period or create a further opportunity to comply.
7. The Tribunal rejected the procedural-fairness and human-rights arguments. The Traffic Commissioner had complied with the statutory notice and inquiry safeguards. Applying the approach in Bradley Fold Travel v Secretary of State for Transport (2010) EWCA Civ 695, the decision was not plainly wrong.
8. An additional argument concerning suspension under Article 13.3 was not permitted because it had not been pleaded or properly raised. The Tribunal observed, obiter, that any future argument on the domestic implementation of Article 13.3 would require the assistance of the Secretary of State.

• Upper Tribunal (Administrative Appeals Chamber): appeal against the Traffic Commissioner’s revocation decision dismissed. Revocation took immediate effect.
• Traffic Commissioner for the North West of England: operator’s standard international licence revoked under section 27(1)(a) of the Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Act 1995.