Poplar-based recycling firm Remarkable Recycling Solutions has had its operations licence revoked, after the Traffic Commissioner for London and the South East of England, Nicholas Denton, found it was running vehicles in a ‘shocking state’ and ‘posed a threat to both drivers and other road users’.

Denton terminated Remarkable Recycling Solutions Ltd’s licence last month after concluding the company had been ‘grossly negligent’ while running heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) and, as a consequence, also disqualified the firm’s Director, Joseph Esqulant, from operating goods vehicles for 12 months.

Vehicle had over 40 defects

The Traffic Commissioner called the firm to a public inquiry on 20 March, after the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) reported multiple safety failings on the company’s two recycling vehicles, and Esqulant received a six-month driving ban for a dangerous load offence.

During the inquiry, held in Eastbourne, DVSA outlined thatthe company Director had run vehicles on the road with known defects, some of which made them unroadworthy and dangerous. One vehicle had as many as 44 defects, including inoperable brakes, loose mirrors and faulty headlights.

Further, Esqulant had been issued with two ‘S marked prohibitions’ – denoting a significant failure of maintenance- for ‘safety critical defects’ in the same month, but failed to rectify these.

The inquiry also revealed that there were no systems in place for checking drivers had the correct driving license, or for educating or disciplining them. Denton was informed that Esqulant allowed a driver with no qualifications to carry out routine safety inspections on vehicles – because it was ‘too expensive’ to pay a maintenance contractor. It was also found that the defect checks were being carried out ‘wholly inadequately’, by Esqulant.

‘The safety checks make for horrific reading’

The evidence presented by examiners from the DVSA led Denton to conclude that Esqulant had “put safety at risk for a lengthy period” and had thus “competed unfairly against operators in the sector who comply with the rules”.

He added thathe had “no confidence at all in Mr Esqulant’s ability to run a compliant vehicle operation”.

He said: “I was horrified by the state of the vehicle... Allowing a vehicle to go out in that condition must have posed a risk to the health and safety of the driver.

“The recent safety checks make frankly horrific reading, particularly when one realises that most defects are going unrectified by the maintainer – because he has not been requested by the operator to rectify them.”

As such, the Traffic Commissioner decided to revoke the firm’s licence from 24 March 2014, explaining that as he was “so concerned about the risk to road safety posed by this operator”, he would not give the usual 28 day period for the order to come into effect.

He also disqualified Joseph Esulant from holding or obtaining such a licence for a period of twelve months (until 24 March 2015).

Denton added that if ever Esqulant wished to apply for an operator’s licence in the future, he would have to ‘familiarise himself with the responsibilities and tasks that entails, acquire the necessary knowledge and skills, and demonstrate that he takes compliance, safety and fair competition seriously’.

Read the Traffic Commissioner’s full decision.