Thijs Bontekoe had pleaded guilty to fraud after submitting invoices for work that had never been carried out. He later failed to disclose the conviction properly, misled the operator whose licence he was managing and sent correspondence to the Traffic Commissioner that purported to have the haulier’s authority.
Traffic Commissioner Richard Turfitt concluded that this was not one isolated mistake, but a sustained period of dishonesty that put compliant operators at risk.
Bontekoe had been appointed transport manager for Bruno Barata, trading as Premier Vehicle Transport & Recovery, when the company’s new operator’s licence was granted in December 2025.
The standard international licence authorised three vehicles and two trailers from an operating centre in Bury St Edmunds.
However, Bontekoe had already pleaded guilty to fraud in August 2025 and was awaiting sentence. On 23 December, one day before the operator’s licence was granted, he received a 14-month prison sentence suspended for 18 months and was ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work.
The conviction arose from his previous role at an unnamed logistics company. According to the Traffic Commissioner’s decision, Bontekoe abused his position by submitting fraudulent invoices for work he had not completed.
Invoices worth £20,000 were submitted, of which £11,340 was paid before he was arrested in May 2025.
Despite the seriousness of the case, the conviction was not brought to the Traffic Commissioner’s attention before Premier Vehicle Transport & Recovery’s licence was approved. Nor was it declared immediately afterwards.
Haulier was told it was a motoring matter
The operator only became aware that there was a problem after the Office of the Traffic Commissioner began reviewing the licence.
Barata said Bontekoe contacted the business and claimed the matter involved a speeding offence. The operator was therefore left believing it was a minor motoring issue that would not affect the licence.
Bontekoe also sent what he described as a “combined response” on behalf of himself and the operator. Barata later told the Traffic Commissioner that the message had not been authorised and that he had not known Bontekoe had responded in the company’s name.
The former transport manager claimed he had reported the conviction at the earliest opportunity and said he had otherwise performed his duties to an exemplary standard.
The commissioner rejected that account.
Records showed that Bontekoe had been communicating with the licensing authorities on 24 December, but made no mention of the criminal proceedings. A separate operator’s licence application submitted in January 2026, on which he was nominated as transport manager, also contained no declaration of the conviction.
Turfitt said Bontekoe had defrauded one operator, attempted to mislead another and then tried to mislead the regulator through correspondence presented as having the operator’s backing.
“He had told this operator that it was a speeding conviction,” the commissioner stated.
The decision found that Bontekoe had shown little insight into what was described as a sustained period of dishonesty.
Ten-year ban instead of indefinite disqualification
The commissioner said the conduct could have justified placing the case in the most severe category and imposing an indefinite disqualification.
Instead, Bontekoe was barred from relying on his transport manager Certificate of Professional Competence for ten years.
Even after that period expires, he will not be able to return automatically. He would first have to appear before a Traffic Commissioner if another operator sought to nominate him as a transport manager.
No regulatory action was taken against Premier Vehicle Transport & Recovery itself.
The company removed Bontekoe from the licence and appointed Sofia Chopra as its new transport manager in April. A review of its maintenance and compliance records found them broadly satisfactory, although one brake performance test had been missed because of a misunderstanding over whether the vehicle needed to be loaded.
The operator’s licence was therefore left unchanged, subject to the arrangements for its replacement transport manager.
The decision was issued on 9 June and published by the Traffic Commissioners on 10 July 2026.
