Two directors and two managers of Commercial Vehicle Solutions (CVS) have been cleared of the charges of fraud they faced at Leeds Crown Court.
The jury also found co-accused Richard Lawson, MD of Spirit Auto Logistics and successor Spirit Motor Transport, not guilty of a charge of fraud.
At the start of the case in November, CVS MD Martin Collins, sales director Richard Gosling and managers Bruce Lawrie and Tim Edwards pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to defraud the Traffic Commissioners of Great Britain. They and Lawson also denied conspiring to defraud other HGV operators.
The prosecution alleged that in 2009 and 2010 CVS sought O-licences as a future commodity it could sell or charge operators for using. CVS was not financially involved in any of the companies that used its O-licences. The prosecution had continued to claim that the other hauliers were unaware of the details of the scheme but Lawson was.
The defence said a more unlikely fraud would be difficult to find. The CVS team told their so-called clients what they were going to do and how they were going to do it. They had been open and transparent about what they were doing, and had spoken with and written to the Office of the Traffic Commissioner (TC).
The CVS directors and managers sought to operate their business by providing what they believed to be a unique service, the defence said. Nobody hid the fact that their clients’ vehicles were running with CVS licence discs. CVS had exercised a contractual right to control the drivers and the routeing of the vehicles, therefore making CVS the operator.
Under the contractual terms the drivers were the servants or agents of CVS. They were not operating in contravention of the law. CVS had found a way of operating within the law and did so.
CVS never pretended to employ the drivers, to insure the vehicles, or that they did the routeing; but they “operated the vehicles” keeping a close grip on their maintenance. They had the right to step in and see that work drivers were given could be done within the drivers’ hours rules. They could stop a vehicle going out and there was evidence that they did. The fact Vosa and the TCs didn’t like it was immaterial, claimed the defence.
The jury took a day and a half to reach its verdicts.
The DVSA said of the outcome: “We brought this case to court because we believed it was in the public interest to do so. We will be reviewing the case in its entirety before making a decision on any further steps.”
A statement on behalf of Collins and Gosling said: “The Vosa case against Martin Collins and Richard Gosling is over and they, together with all other defendants, have been found not guilty. Having sat for 14 weeks and considered thousands of documents the jury quickly came to the unanimous decision that all five defendants were not guilty."
“They are very grateful for the support of their legal team, in particular counsel Robert Smith QC and Mark Laprell, together with Mark Davies and John Heaton of Backhouse Jones Solicitors.”
By Michael Jewell
