Licence ban for Thornley skip operators involved in criminal activity

Two of the owners of Thornley skip hire firm S M Skips have been banned from operating vehicles after failing to declare serious convictions to the industry regulator.

Stuart Frederick McCarroll and Stuart Christopher McCarroll have been disqualified until May 20, 2019, and May20, 2021, respectively by Traffic Commissioner Kevin Rooney.

The decision follows a public inquiry held in Leeds on May 17, where Rooney also made an order to revoke the operator’s licence held by Stuart Frederick McCarroll, Stuart Christopher McCarroll and Ann McCarroll.

In January this year, the Traffic Commissioner’s Office was notified of a conviction for Stuart Frederick McCarroll, who received a 24-month suspended sentence for conceal/disguise/convert/transfer/remove criminal property in November 2014.

Stuart Christopher McCarroll also received a 13-month suspended sentence for the same offence.

The Traffic Commissioner proposed to revoke the partnership’s licence as a result of the convictions but the business asked for the matters to be considered at a public inquiry.

Prior to the hearing, the Traffic Commissioner’s Office was notified of a further conviction for Stuart Christopher McCarroll. He was sentenced to 14 months imprisonment at Durham Crown Court on April 1, 2016 – eight months for the illegal disposal of waste material and a further six months for breaching the suspended sentence imposed in November 2014.

At the public inquiry, which none of the partners attended, Rooney concluded the convictions were serious and relevant.

He said: “There are three partners to the partnership. One has received a 24-month suspended prison sentence in relation to the conversion of criminal property. A second has received both a suspended sentence and now an immediate custodial one.

“The circumstances of the custodial sentence appear to relate to the use of authorised goods vehicles to illegally dump waste on the family farm.

"Press reports put the amount of waste at 870 tonnes and described the illegal dumping as being on an industrial scale”.

He added that it was clear HGVs had been used in committing serious mcriminal offences and that this was an aggravating factor requiring more than revocation of the operator's licence.