A concrete and aggregate supplier has been refused permission to operate commercial vehicles after one of its directors said he would rather take the risk of operating illegally.

Traffic Commissioner, Nick Denton, concluded there was compelling evidence to suggest vehicles had been operated illegally while the firm’s application for an operator’s licence was under consideration.

Philip Fitzsimmons, Metro Concrete director, was told explicitly by a Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) examiner on 4 April that the company was operating a vehicle without the required licence.

11 days later, another vehicle being operated by Silvertown based Metro Concrete Limited was stopped by the Police.

Tachograph data and a driver defect report obtained from one of the firm’s vehicles revealed that a vehicle was also operated on at least seven days in March. Additionally, the vehicle was displaying a disc for another operator’s licence which had been revoked in February.

As part of its application correspondence, the business had been warned by the Central Licensing Office that it could not operate vehicles until the application had been granted.

Following a public inquiry earlier this month, which the company did not attend, Mr Denton said: “Because of this persistent illegal operation, in the face of both the written warnings and a verbal intervention by a traffic examiner, I find the applicant is not fit to hold a licence.”

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