Rapped for safety breaches

SHARE DEAL: DX Group said chairman Ronald Series had purchased 88,500 ordinary shares after the company said it was not in a position to publish its audited accounts due to an internal investigation. The group is set to have its shares suspended in the New Year following the delay to the release of its results. The parcel freight, courier and logistics service said Series had bought the shares of 1p each at an average price of 21.96 pence per ordinary share. Following the transaction, the chairman now has a total beneficial holding of 2,434,294 ordinary shares, representing 0.42% of the share capital. The company’s audit and risk committee recently raised a corporate governance inquiry relating to an internal investigation. Chief executive Lloyd Dunn and DX Freight MD Paul Ibbetson recently purchased shares worth a combined total of over £115,000.

Stobart drivers were stopped twice at the roadside for breaches last year Eddie Stobart on list of drivers’ hours offenders

By Chris Tindell

Eddie Stobart is included in a list of operators the DVSA found was committing drivers’ hours offences during roadside inspections of its vehicles in 2020.

The news comes a week after the DVSA was forced to defend its figures after a UK-based firm named on the list insisted it had not attracted any fines for drivers’ hours breaches.

According to the DVSA, Stobart drivers were stopped twice at the roadside last year in two different traffic areas and found to have been breaching the rules. One was in the North West traffic area and the other was in the Eastern region. No information is available about the size of fine levied on the drivers for the offences.

The list also includes Loughborough-based construction haulier Saint-Gobain Building Distribution, which had 10 drivers’ hours offences marked against it last year. Richard Halderthay, a director at the firm, which holds restricted licences in all traffic areas and runs dozens of operating centres, said: “Where this happens, we support the individual with a tailored one-to-one refresher programme, ensuring we quickly close any knowledge gaps.” Other companies on the list include BM Logistics and Lovatt Transport, which both had 10 offences against them. For more on this

story see our Vox Pop on page 6.

HGV-loving Dylan lands driving job... aged just nine

A Scottish transport firm has offered a driving job to a primary school pupil after he sent them his CV and said he would keep his truck clean if they took him on.

HGV-mad nine-year-old Dylan Macleod, who attends Stornoway primary school, wrote to MacRitchie Highland Distribution telling them he already had industry experience.

“I have worked with my Shen [grandfather] at MacRitchie Highland Stornoway yard and deliver around the island doing picky backs and I help put the silver curtain on the ferry,” he explained.

“I cannot wait to drive your lorries and I will keep it clean.”

The firm’s transport manager Catriona MacRitchie wrote back to Dylan thanking him for his application and telling him his resourcefulness, determination and ability were an inspiration.

“If you continue to gain experience over the coming years and if you are still keen to become a lorry driver when you leave school, we would like to offer you a position within our company,” she said.

DVLA issues warning over illegal access to driver data

The DVLA is launching a campaign to warn operators, employers and driver agencies that it is a criminal offence to gain unauthorised access to driver data via the View Driving Licence (VDL) service.

The campaign follows concerns raised by an HGV driver that a driver agency had used his National Insurance number to access confidential details about his driving history.

The search had revealed that he had a drink-driving offence, committed over five years previously, which resulted in the agency refusing to take him on.

However, had the agency accessed the driver’s licence history via the legal route, it would have only been given information for up to five years, in line with rehabilitation legislation requirements.

The driver, who wishes to remain anonymous, wrote to the DVLA complaints team. In the email, which he shared with MT, he stated: “It appears that the DVLA is inadvertently aiding and abetting the ability for others to delve into peoples’ driver licenses, deeper than the five years that should only be divulged and an area that is only for the use of the DVLA and law enforcement departments. This is discriminating thousands of drivers from applying for HGV/PSV driving jobs.

“This is going to upset a lot of the ‘blue chip’ companies. The big boys can no longer demand a clean licence for 11 years since this information should and must not be made available publicly.”

Responding, Kayleigh Roberts, DVLA complaints team manager, wrote: “The VDL service was designed to provide drivers with access to check their own driver record. Individuals are entitled to access all personal data held about them, which helps explain why all the penalties and disqualifications on record are disclosed via this service.”

She added: “Upon accessing the VDL service, it is made very clear to users that they need to use a different service if they want to check someone else’s driving licence information and that it is a criminal offence to obtain someone else’s personal data without their permission.”