Driver ran haulage firm while boss was in India. Now licence has gone

West Midlands Traffic Commissioner Miles Dorrington revoked Sukhvinder Singh’s O-licence following a public inquiry. It took effect at 23:45 on 5 April 2026.

Singh is believed to have left for India on 16 December 2024 and not returned until 21 March 2025. He didn’t tell the Office of the Traffic Commissioner he was going. During those three months, DVSA ANPR cameras captured his vehicle 257 times on the road — evidence that the truck was in use throughout, with no one properly in charge of the operation back home.

That alone would have been serious. What made it a straightforward case for revocation was the state of the vehicle underneath it all.

38 years old, six MOT failures and still on the road

The truck — an old Mercedes that was on the road before some of its drivers were born — went 208 days between safety inspections. That’s 124 days late against the 12-week PMI schedule recorded on the licence. Against DVSA guidance, which says vehicles aged 12 years and older should normally be inspected every six weeks, it was far worse.

Then there’s the MOT record. Six consecutive failures, including one abandoned test. The Commissioner called it “appalling” and concluded the truck was probably unroadworthy for prolonged stretches — meaning it had no business being on public roads at all, let alone racking up hundreds of camera sightings.

Brake testing made the picture even bleaker. The only laden brake test on record had been carried out at MOT. Several PMIs either had no meaningful brake test at all, or only an unladen one. The Commissioner said that meant Singh had no proper way of knowing whether his braking system would actually perform in service. For a fully loaded lorry on UK roads, that’s not a technicality — it’s a serious danger to everyone else on the road.

‘Limited understanding’ of basic duties

It wasn’t just the truck. The inquiry found Singh had shown only a limited understanding of what holding an O-licence actually requires, and had done no operator-specific professional development. The Commissioner concluded he was unfit to hold a licence.

That’s the nuclear option in operator licensing and it doesn’t get handed down lightly. But when you combine months of absence, a truck in that condition, weak paperwork and no evidence of anyone being properly in control, it’s hard to argue with the outcome.

The rules aren’t complicated. Here’s what they say.

For anyone running a small fleet or operating as an owner-driver, the basics are worth spelling out clearly.

Your vehicles must be inspected at the frequency declared on your licence — and DVSA says older vehicles need more attention, not less. Inspections must cover the items included in the statutory annual test. Drivers must carry out a walkaround check before every shift, defects must be reported promptly, and all defect and rectification records must be kept for at least 15 months.

On brake testing specifically, an unladen check isn’t enough. If your PMIs aren’t including a proper laden roller brake test, you’re leaving yourself exposed — both to a roadside prohibition and to serious questions at a public inquiry.

If you acquire a vehicle, a first-use inspection is required before it goes on the road, unless you have clear evidence it’s already been properly checked over.

This case is extreme, but the underlying lesson applies to any small operator. An O-licence is not something you can leave ticking over in the background. Slip on your maintenance intervals, let brake testing slide, stop keeping proper records — and the Traffic Commissioner can take the whole thing away.