Road Traffic Act 1960

178 Revocation, suspension and curtailment of carriers' licences

(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, the licensing authority by whom a carrier's licence was granted may direct that it be revoked, suspended or curtailed on any one or more of the following grounds, that is to say—

(a) that any of the conditions of the licence have not been complied with;

(b) that in relation to the licence there has been any such conviction or prohibition as is mentioned in the Fourteenth Schedule to this Act;

(c) that the holder of the licence has, since the licence was granted, been convicted of an offence under section seven of the Road Haulage Wages Act, 1938 (which makes failure to pay the statutory remuneration under that Act an offence);

(d) in the case of an A licence or a B licence, that the holder of the licence made or procured to be made for the purposes of his application for the licence, or for the purposes of an application for any such variation thereof as is mentioned in subsection (3) of section one hundred and seventy-six of this Act a statement of fact which (whether to his knowledge or not) was false, or a statement of intention or expectation which has not been fulfilled;

(e) in the case of an A licence or a B licence, that the holder of the licence has been persistently charging, for services which consist of or include the carriage of goods by road in any of the authorised vehicles, sums insufficient to meet the cost of rendering those services, and has thereby placed other holders of carriers' licences at an undue or unfair disadvantage in competing with him as respects the carriage of goods by road.

(2) The licensing authority shall not give a direction under this section without first holding a public inquiry if the holder of the licence requests him to hold such an inquiry.

(3) The licensing authority shall not give a direction under this section on a ground such as is referred to in paragraph (a) or paragraph (c) of subsection (1) thereof unless he is satisfied that owing to the frequency of the breach of conditions of the licence, or to the breach in question having been committed wilfully, or, as the case may be, that owing to the frequency with which the offence was committed or to the offence in question having been committed wilfully, such a direction should be given.

(4) The licensing authority shall not give a direction under this section on a ground such as is referred to in paragraph (b) of subsection (1) thereof unless he is satisfied that owing to the frequency of such convictions or prohibitions as are referred to in that paragraph, or the wilfulness of the act or omission leading to the conviction or prohibition in question, or the danger to the public involved in that act or omission, such a direction should be given.

(5) In a case in which the licensing authority gives a direction under this section with respect to a licence he shall, if so requested by the holder of the licence, state in writing the grounds on which the direction is given.

(6) A person who, being the holder of a carrier's licence, is aggrieved by a direction given under this section in respect thereof, may appeal to the Transport Tribunal; and on an appeal under this subsection the Transport Tribunal shall have power to make such order as it thinks fit, and its decision shall be binding on the licensing authority.

(7) References in this Part of this Act to the curtailment of a licence are references—

(a) to the removal from the licence of any one or more of the vehicles specified therein, or

(b) to the reduction of the maximum number of motor vehicles or of trailers specified therein in pursuance of paragraphs (b) and (c) respectively of subsection (1) of section one hundred and sixty-seven of this Act.