Call us for free on 0800 1777 522
Bristol Public Inquiries

Public Inquiries in Bristol, West of England Traffic Area

The office of the Traffic Commissioner covering the West of England Traffic Area is at Jubilee House on Croydon Street in Bristol. It is situated in a complex also containing DVSA offices though in a separate building. Currently Sarah Bell, from the 1st November 2016 Kevin Rooney will take up position as the Traffic Commissioner for the West of England Traffic Area.

Public inquiries take place at Bristol in connection with both goods vehicle and passenger vehicle operator licences. Public inquiries are held to consider disciplinary action against operator licence holders where there is evidence that they may have breached the law or the conditions of their licence. They are also called to consider applications for new operators licences or where there is an application to make changes to an existing licence. The vast majority of applications are dealt with without a public inquiry, but problematic ones go to public inquiry for consideration.

You can find out more about the public inquiry process on our page called About Public Inquiries. Basically, a public inquiry is a formal legal hearing set up a bit like a court or tribunal. Evidence, witnesses and legal arguments all take place and a formal legally binding decision is made by the Traffic Commissioner.

The West of England Traffic Area

The West of England Traffic Area covers a large part of the country in the South West of England stretching East up to the edge of the M25. It includes the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire, Somerset, Wiltshire, Isle of Wight, Gloucestershire and Berkshire

Towns and cities including within this Traffic Area include Bristol, Southampton, Portsmouth, Exeter, Plymouth, Gloucester, Poole, Weymouth, Dorchester, Barnstaple, Bridgwater, Taunton, Weymouth, Yeovil, Bournemouth, Salisbury, Bath, Yate, Western Supermare and Swindon.

There are 822 businesses holding passenger vehicle operators licence and 10,900 with goods vehicle operator licences in the West of England Traffic Area.

Public Inquiries in the West of England

Most public inquiries in the West of England Traffic Area are dealt with in Bristol in the special court room there for this purpose. Occasionally they may take place at other venues, but this is rare. The hearings will be heard by the Traffic Commissioner or a deputy Traffic Commissioner.

In the year 2014/2015 there were a total of 149 goods vehicle and 49 passenger vehicle public inquiries in the West of England Traffic Area.

Of the goods vehicle public inquiries, 82 of them were to consider disciplinary action and 67 for considering applications. 25 of the passenger vehicle public inquiries were for application to be decided and 24 for disciplinary action.

Outcomes of Goods Vehicle (HGV) Public Inquiries in the West of England

Result of disciplinary public inquiries :

From 82 goods vehicle public inquiries called for disciplinary action, 27, about one third of them, ended with the operators licence being revoked. 8 goods vehicle licences were suspended and 17 were curtailed. Only 13 (15%) resulted in no action taken.

Result of applications heard at public inquiry :

97 applications were dealt with at public inquiries over the course of the year. Eight of these were refused outright. Some were part granted or granted with conditions attached. About half of them, 48 were granted in full.

The outcome of passenger vehicle public inquiries at in the West of England 

The result of disciplinary public inquiries for passenger vehicle operator licences was as follows:

Out of 25 public inquiries for disciplinary action, 12, about half, ended with the operators licence revoked, 1 was suspended and 8 had their vehicle numbers reduced. Only 2 out of the 25 resulted in no disciplinary sanctions being taken at all.

Result of applications heard at public inquiry :

There were 24 applications dealt with at public inquiry. Seven of these were refused outright, fifteen were granted in full.

What to do if you've been called to a public inquiry in Bristol

First of all, recognise that any public inquiry called for any reason is a very serious thing. Secondly recognise that getting legal advice and having an experienced transport law solicitor on your side is at least half of the problem sorted.

A good transport law specialist will be able to get stuck into your case and do all sorts of things to get you ready to face the Traffic Commissioner and come away with a good outcome.

We strongly recommend that you speak to us urgently if you've had a call to public inquiry. Nearly all of our clients (well over 90%) have a successful outcome at their public inquiries.

We regularly handle public inquiries at Bristol and know exactly how to prepare and present a successful case. We've been doing it for years and have helped hundreds of operators through what is always a very difficult and uncertain time.

Your chance of a successful outcome at your public inquiry increases dramatically if you have experienced and skilled legal representation. So choosing a good transport solicitor is of vital importance.

Please call Simon Newman on 01302 775522 or email him on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. I will be very glad to talk through your situation and review your papers free of charge to enable you to make an informed decision about what to do.

 

CONTACT US ABOUT YOUR PUBLIC INQUIRY

Please get in touch with us without charge or obligation.

Contact us today and we'll give you an idea about how we might be able to help you. We will be very glad to talk through your situation and review your papers free of charge to help you to make an informed decision about what to do.

You can call us any time on 0800 1777 522 or alternatively you can email us or make a Free Online Enquiry


Call us for free on 0800 1777 522


Get In Touch Call or fill out the form below

Please let us know your name.
Please let us know your email address.
Please write a subject for your message.
Please let us know your message.
Invalid Input

 


We advise and represent transport businesses throughout the whole of the UK in all parts of England, Scotland, Wales and N.Ireland

Uk





Latest Blogs

We were approached by an operator who had received public inquiry paper several weeks earlier. The Operator instructed us to represent him at his inquiry listed for a hearing before the Traffic Commis...
We recently represented two companies who were both called to the same public inquiry. Although separate entities, the companies were closely connected because of having the same set of directors. One...
We were approached by a small business owner to represent them at the a public inquiry which had been called to consider their application for a new passenger vehicle operator’s licence.The person app...

IF YOU NEED HELP OR ADVICE WITH A TRANSPORT LAW ISSUE

Call us today for free on 0800 1777 522
Send us an enquiry online via our contact form HERE
Email us on contact@nalegal.co.uk

Latest Transport Law

Transport Law
We were approached by an operator who had received public inquiry paper several weeks earlier. The Operator instructed us to represent him at his inquiry listed for a hearing before the Traffic Commissioner’s (TC) only two weeks in advance.

There were several serious issues that the TC indicated he wanted to examine at the hearing and was threatening regulatory action against the Operator Company. The Operator had approached another firm of solicitors, who informed him that the likely outcome of the hearing would be loss of repute and licence revocation.

We provided the Operator with advice about immediate steps to be taken in preparation for the hearing. We requested the operator send us a number of documents critical to the success of his inquiry. A consideration of those document showed significant—but not insurmountable—shortfalls in maintenance standards and legal requirements.

The operator had recently appointed a new Transport Manager (TM) with an excellent reputation in his field. The TM worked along with us in analysing the Company’s compliance systems to create better compliance systems and improve the of the Company’s mindset about such.

We prepared extensive written representations and sent these to the TC in advance of the hearing along with supporting documentation.

We recommended that both the Operator (Director) and his Transport Manager attend the hearing. As expected the TC questioned the Operator and TM extensively about the various issued raised. We guided and advised the Operator and TM throughout the hearing. Following our final submissions, the TC decided not to revoke the licence or disqualify the Operator Company. The Operator was issued with a warning and a very short suspension of one vehicle until it had a further maintenance inspection and remedial work done. The Operator was allowed to keep the rest of his fleet working with minimal disruption to the business. The Operator was thrilled with our services and has since instructed us at least one other transport matter.
Transport Law
We recently represented two companies who were both called to the same public inquiry. Although separate entities, the companies were closely connected because of having the same set of directors. One of the companies (the Operator) had years previously been issued with a restricted goods vehicle operator’s licence. The other company had recently applied for the same kind of licence (the Applicant).

Over the previous year, the directors had decided to progressively move most of the Operator’s business interests to its sister company the Applicant. Without understanding the potential consequences, and before being granted its operator’s licence, the Applicant began using the Operator’s heavy goods vehicle. The Operator company had not informed the Traffic Commissioner (TC) of its change in business arrangements and of the apparent change of entity (though the companies were actually wholly owned subsidiaries of another company – see below).

The Public Inquiry was convened because of changes at this business group and a fundamental misunderstanding of the operator’s licence regime, and that there had been what appeared to be a change of entity involving the companies.

The TC needed to be satisfied as to whether the companies were not unfit to hold an operator’s licence due to relevant activities and convictions, and about the events relating to a change in the circumstances of the licence holder. The Operator risked revocation of its licence. The Applicant was at risk of not having its licence granted.

In advance of the inquiry, and to start building their case, we obtained as much information as we could about the businesses and provided each company comprehensive legal advice. We examined the companies’ compliance systems and made recommendations about immediate and longer-term changes that needed to be implemented. On our recommendations, the companies invested time and resources into their maintenance and other systems

As a result of our preliminary work and advice, the companies were fully prepared for the public inquiry hearing. In particular, to answer questions and provide evidence about the apparent change of entity.

At the hearing we demonstrated that the companies were running professional and competent businesses. With specific reference to the issue of the apparent change of entity, the TC accepted that Section 3(4) of the Goods vehicle (licencing of operators) Act 1995 was relevant and that this was not a typical “change of entity” case – because of the companies being subsidiaries. We were able to persuade the TC that the issues that lead to the inquiry arose out of ignorance rather than an attempt to mislead or gain financial advantage

The TC granted the new licence to the Applicant with the Operator company voluntarily surrendering its licence. The directors were delighted with the outcome of the public inquiry hearing and that they managed to avoid the damaging consequences they feared.
Transport Law

We were approached by a small business owner to represent them at the a public inquiry which had been called to consider their application for a new passenger vehicle operator’s licence.

The person applying for the licence had a long background of work in the transport industry as a driver but had never before operated his own transport business. One of the key issues was that the nominated transport manager was also nominated some other licences and the Traffic Commissioner was concerned whether this meant that the transport manager would be able to properly carry out their duties on so many licences at once.