Representation before the Traffic Commissioner, The Transport Appeal Tribunal and the Criminal Courts requires specialist knowledge which very few law firms possess. Pellys LLP has been specialising in transport law for over 25 years and offers a complete range of legal services working closely with organisations like Novadata to ensure that operators receive the best advice at the earliest possible stage, long before a call up letter or a summons is received.

• Advice and representation for VOSA inspections and interviews
• Advice and representation for police interviews under caution
• Defending criminal prosecutions
• Preparation and representation of cases before the Traffic Commissioner and the Transport Appeal Tribunal
• Operating centre licence applications
• Advice on health and safety issues
• Operational health checks and quality control

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• Employee contracts and staff handbooks tailored to the needs of individual operators
• Advice on employee and employer issues, including disciplinary process and grievance meetings
• Our Telephone Help Line service means we can deal with urgent enquiries in time
• We offer 'best practise' training on all aspects of an operator's employer/employee needs from induction to the conduct of disciplinary and grievance meetings
• Employment Tribunal advice and representation
• Handling redundancy
• Drafting terms & conditions
• Dispute resolution and commercial litigation
• Advice and representation for business acquisitions and sales  

                                       

What is and what happens at a Public Inquiry?

A public inquiry can be called on for any reason, but the following, listed below, are the more common reasons.

 

A public inquiry can be called if there are uncertainties or doubts regarding the ability of an operator to run vehicles according to operators’ licence undertakings. This may be the result of a visit from VOSA, which in turn may have been proceeded by a roadside check that highlighted a number of issues causing concern. It could be due to other offences or graduated fixed penalties that have been listed against the operator’s licence.

 

Occasionally a company applying for a new operators licence is called to public inquiry to cover areas of concern. You may get called to an inquiry if somebody has vetoed an open application, for example.

 

At a public inquiry the Traffic Commissioner will ask a series of questions relating to the reason you have been called to inquiry. Usually the questions will be about the storage of records storage of records such as tachographs, also the operating hours of the vehicles and where the vehicles are kept can be covered.

 

What can happen to my operator’s licence at Public Inquiry?

If the Traffic Commissioner is not satisfied by what they hear or see given in evidence then they have the power to revoke your operator’s licence. If your licence does get revoked then you can no longer operate your HGV/PCV vehicles on public roads.

 

The Traffic Commissioner can also put restrictions on the licence such as the number of vehicles you are able to operate, or the times that vehicles may be driven to and from your centre.