Independent Grab Company Limited, Re

An operator’s licence may be revoked where the licence-holder no longer satisfies the requirement to designate a suitable transport manager. An appeal must identify an error of law, an error of fact, or a material procedural irregularity in the decision under challenge. Administrative failings by the licence-holder or its staff do not themselves make a properly conducted revocation decision appealable, particularly where adequate opportunities to provide information and seek a period of grace were given.

The company appealed against the Deputy Traffic Commissioner’s decision of 4 April 2025 to revoke its standard national operator’s licence. The revocation followed the removal of the company’s transport manager and the company’s failure to provide the information required to process a replacement transport manager application or to apply for a period of grace. The company attributed the failure to difficulties using the VOL system and to a member of staff not passing on correspondence. The central issue was whether the Deputy Traffic Commissioner’s decision was wrong on the facts or the law.

The appeal was dismissed. The Tribunal held that the Deputy Traffic Commissioner’s decision was neither wrong on the facts nor wrong in law.

1. Under section 27(1) of the Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Act 1995, a Traffic Commissioner must direct revocation of a standard national operator’s licence where it appears that the licence-holder no longer satisfies the requirement to designate a suitable number of transport managers.
2. The grounds of appeal did not identify any error in the Deputy Traffic Commissioner’s reasoning, any error of fact or law, or any procedural irregularity. They instead explained why the company had failed to comply with requests for information.
3. The proper procedures had been followed. The company had been given three opportunities to provide the outstanding information and had been invited to apply for a period of grace. The Deputy Traffic Commissioner could not reasonably have done more in the circumstances.
4. Applying the appellate approach in Bradley Fold Travel & Peter Wright v Secretary of State for Transport (2010) EWCA Civ.695, the decision was not amenable to successful appeal merely because the company later sought to appoint another transport manager. The appeal was dismissed.

• Upper Tribunal (Administrative Appeals Chamber): dismissed the appeal against the Deputy Traffic Commissioner for Wales’s decision dated 4 April 2025.
• Deputy Traffic Commissioner for Wales: revoked the company’s operator’s licence under section 27(1) of the Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Act 1995.