A Kent scaffolder has had his application to run commercial vehicles turned down after being deemed ‘entirely unfit’ to hold an operator’s licence.
He was found running vehicles that were overloaded and had no licence, tax or insurance.
Anthony Graves from Gravesend planned to trade as Allscaff but he failed to attend a public inquiry in Eastbourne that was arranged to consider his licence application.
Nick Denton, the traffic commissioner for London and the southeast, concluded that the application as frivolous and rejected it.
The inquiry heard that two vehicles had been stopped in July 2015 by government inspectors. Both vehicles were overloaded, untaxed and uninsured. The first driver said he was working for Allscaff. The second driver was Anthony Graves himself. Mr Graves did not have the correct category of licence to drive the 7.5-tonne vehicle he was in and the vehicle was found to be 45% overloaded.
Both vehicles were also operating illegally, as they were not specified on a valid operator’s licence.
Mr Denton also found there was substantial evidence to suggest that the application made by Mr Graves was a front for Chris Ball, whose vehicles had previously been impounded for illegal operation, following revocation of his company’s operator’s licence. Bank statements provided with the application made by Mr Graves appeared to show Mr Ball as the main funder of Allscaff, and one of the vehicles was registered to C Ball Scaffolding.