Dent Logistics handed formal warning after failing to report fatal accident

The company, which operates 90 HGVs and 100 trailers, also did not tell the TC’s office that it had been prosecuted and convicted after one of its drivers was found to be driving without a valid CPC qualification for two years.

At a Golborne public inquiry DTC Gerallt Evans found that the operator failed to notify his office of the road traffic fatality in August 2021 and of the driver’s subsequent conviction; a situation transport manager Fiona Cannon later apologised for and said she was unaware the matter needed to be notified.

The firm’s former transport manager Hollie Dent also attended the PI and accepted she was responsible for checking driver Arran Barbieri’s driving licence when he was employed in July 2021.

She failed to notice his CPC had expired, although Evans said there was some mitigation in that the operator should have checked the system again and identified the error more swiftly.

However, he noted that Dent should also have notified his office when she later resigned as transport manager at the end of 2023.

The DTC also said the situation was aggravated when Cannon, the partner of sole director Thomas Dent, made the decision to continue using Barbieri for driving duties until he undertook the required training three months’ later.

In his written decision, Evans said he accepted that the driver involved in the fatality was no longer employed by Dent Logistics when the conviction was recorded, but he added: “No such mitigation exists for the second failure to notify that relates to the operator’s own conviction for the driver’s hours offences committed by Mr Barbieri in its employment and his offence in driving without a valid CPC for several months.

“I find the CPC matter arose because the operator had inadequate processes in place to check driving licences at the time in 2021 and 2022.

“The position is also aggravated by the fact that TM Cannon consciously permitted Mr Barbieri to continue driving without a CPC qualification after she became aware of the issue in March 2022 until he regained the qualification in May 2022.”

The DTC said it was “a classic case” of a haulier operating compliantly for many years without incident and becoming complacent.

He rejected Cannon’s arguments that she had acted out of sympathy for Barbieri and his ability to support his family and also due to the driver shortage that existed at the time: “The requirement of driver CPC is a key road safety measure,” he said.

“This is why it is a criminal offence to drive without a valid CPC qualification. It is completely unacceptable for any operator or transport manager to knowingly allow a person to drive for them knowing that they do not have a valid CPC no matter how great the temptation.”

However, the DTC stepped back from finding Cannon’s repute was lost, due to the operator’s general compliance and the improvements she had implemented since 2022 and so he made a finding her good repute was severely tarnished instead and he recorded a strong and final warning.

For similar reasons, Evans also said suspending the licence would have a disproportionate effect on the business and so he issued a strong formal warning: “I have been persuaded not to take meaningful regulatory action on the basis that the matters considered at the public inquiry were narrow, isolated, and aged in nature,” he said.

“Clearly if evidence of more recent and wider concerns were to come to the attention of a traffic commissioner in future, the operator would be at risk of action being taken that would materially affect the transport operation.”

The DTC also said there was no evidence of any dishonesty or deliberate impropriety by Dent and that she had left her position at the firm while the fatal traffic investigation was at an early stage. The responsibility was on others within the business to have acted on the requirement to notify his office.

As a result she was issued with a formal warning.