Just Haulage has had its operator’s licence revoked after a Traffic Commissioner found serious and repeated road safety failings, including a trailer being driven in a “very dangerous” condition, with all ten wheel nuts loose.
The Just Haulage trailer was stopped by the DVSA on 30 April 2025 and issued with an immediate prohibition for safety-critical defects, including a wheel where all ten wheel nuts were loose.
The subsequent DVSA investigation also found that a tractor unit had been operated by Just Haulage with an engine management warning light illuminated for over a month.
At the public inquiry, Deputy Traffic Commissioner Giles Pengelly, found that the trailer with the loose wheel nuts had been operating with a “far from fanciful risk” of a wheel or tyre detaching while in motion — posing a severe risk to other road users and pedestrians.
Pengelly also noted that the tractor unit with the illuminated engine management warning light should have been taken off the road until the fault was diagnosed and rectified, adding that its continued use had “imperilled road safety”.
The inquiry also uncovered significant shortcomings in the operator’s maintenance regime. Preventative maintenance inspection (PMI) records were described as incomplete and limited, while one trailer had only a single recorded inspection over an eight-month period, despite a requirement for six-weekly checks. The absence of regular inspections was again said to have compromised road safety.
Driver defect reporting systems were also found to be inadequate. Defects that should have been identified during daily walkaround checks were only picked up later during formal inspections, indicating that drivers were not carrying out checks in line with DVSA guidance.
The operator’s MOT performance raised further concerns. The Deputy Commissioner noted a pass rate of just 50% at the time of the DVSA visit in July 2025.
Defects identified at test - including oil leaks and items obstructing the driver’s view - should have been apparent before vehicles were presented for testing, he said.
The ruling questioned the wider condition of the fleet, noting that if vehicles failed to meet minimum standards on a known test date, their condition on other days was likely worse.
Taking these findings together, the Deputy Commissioner determined that the operator could no longer be trusted to run a compliant operation.
The licence was revoked with effect from 19 February 2026, and a request for a period of grace was refused.
Transport manager Craig Hipkins was also found to have lost his good repute and has been disqualified from acting as a transport manager for 12 months.
In a related decision, the former director of the company, Julie Lamb, has also been disqualified from holding or obtaining an operator’s licence, or being involved in a licensed undertaking, for a period of 12 months.
