Armstrong Freight Logistics Ltd

Where a company applies for a standard goods vehicle operator’s licence, it must have a designated transport manager meeting the statutory requirements. If that requirement is not satisfied when the application is determined, the Traffic Commissioner must refuse the application. A later appointment cannot cure the position on appeal. The Commissioner must act fairly when allowing time for a replacement to be nominated, but the statutory responsibility to maintain a designated transport manager rests with the operator. A deadline of three weeks was reasonable where the operator had already been without a transport manager for nearly six weeks.

Armstrong Freight Logistics Ltd applied for a standard international operator’s licence and was granted an interim licence. Its designated transport manager resigned on 9 November 2022. The Traffic Commissioner gave the company opportunities to nominate a replacement transport manager and make representations, but none were received by the extended deadline.

On 13 January 2023, the Traffic Commissioner refused the application because the company no longer had a designated transport manager. The company appealed to the Upper Tribunal, arguing that it had subsequently secured a competent replacement and had been given insufficient time to do so. The central issues were whether the statutory requirement was satisfied and whether the Commissioner had acted unfairly.

1. Appeal dismissed. The Traffic Commissioner’s refusal of the operator’s licence application was correct.
2. Under Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Act 1995, section 13A(3)(b), a company applying for a standard operator’s licence must designate a suitable number of individuals satisfying the requirements in paragraph 14A(1) and (3) of Schedule 3. The statutory definition of transport manager is found in section 13A(5).
3. Section 13(5) required the Commissioner to refuse the application because the company did not have a designated transport manager when the application was determined. The later availability of a competent replacement did not establish that the original decision was wrong.
4. The Commissioner did not act unfairly by allowing approximately three weeks after the 19 December 2022 letter for a replacement nomination and written representations. The transport-manager requirement was imposed by statute, not created by notice from the Commissioner. The existing manager had resigned on 9 November, so the operator had already been without one for nearly six weeks and had more than two months to secure a replacement.
5. The company’s lack of vehicle operations and its failure to use the interim licence did not alter the statutory position. The Tribunal noted that a fresh licence application might, retrospectively, have been preferable to pursuing the appeal.

• Upper Tribunal (Administrative Appeals Chamber): appeal dismissed. The Tribunal upheld the Traffic Commissioner’s decision of 13 January 2023 refusing the standard international operator’s licence application.
• Traffic Commissioner for the North West of England Traffic Area: application refused because the company lacked a designated transport manager.