The former director of an Island haulage firm has been disqualified after a public inquiry ruled he had behaved in a “shameful manner”.

However, a colleague who worked with Stephen Pennington said LVH Services only got into difficulty after Thamesteel, for which it was the biggest contractor, went into administration.

Steve Heard was a manager at the company, which was based in New Road, Sheerness, and worked alongside Mr Pennington.

Earlier this year, LVH Services went into administration after it lost out on £780,000 worth of business from the Thamesteel mill in Brielle Way, which closed in January 2012. Mr Heard is now the director of LVH Haulage, which took on the assets of the other firm.

A hearing was held by the Traffic Commissioner for London and the South East, Nicholas Denton, in Eastbourne and it concluded Mr Pennington had sidestepped his responsibilities to keep vehicles safe and ensure drivers were working legally.

It said the operation he was presiding over was “fraudulent” and “incompetent”.

The public inquiry found tachograph records for the company were missing and not produced when required, several vehicles were operated without valid tax discs, cheques for 16 tax discs were dishonoured and LVH Services had been prosecuted and fined for failing to pay for vehicle excise duty on seven occasions.

There were also issues with routine safety inspections being missed, vehicles being prohibited due to defects, between September 2011 and the inquiry earlier this year, and that the company was subject to a proposal to be struck off the Companies House register.

Mr Denton also examined the performance of the transport manager Vivienne Swann and concluded many of the basic functions of this role – such as driver scheduling, keeping tachograph records and ensuring vehicles were given safety inspections, had been performed by someone else or not at all.

She and Mr Pennington were disqualified from the industry.

Mr Denton said by presiding over a fraudulent and incompetent operation, Mr Pennington was unfit to be the director of a transport operator company and indefinite disqualification was “entirely proportionate”.

He also said Mr Pennington had refused to explain or defend his actions.

However, Mr Pennington said he was not a director of the company when it happened and by the time the hearing was held the company no longer existed.

Steve Heard said everything that happened and everything related to the Traffic Commissioner’s hearing was down to cashflow problems caused by LVH Services losing out on £780,000 worth of business when Thamesteel went into administration.

Around 50 people lost their jobs at the haulage firm as soon as the mill shut and another 30 drivers were made redundant over the months afterwards.

He said tax discs were not obtained fraudulently and were all paid for eventually.

Some cheques were returned and they could not manage the cash flow because of the huge loss they had suffered and their bank therefore lost confidence in them.

Mr Heard said: “We had never had any issues [with the Traffic Commissioner] before that,” he said.

“From when Thamesteel went into administration it was just survival and we didn’t make it in the end.

“All we were trying to do was continue trading and keep people employed but in the end it was not viable.

“The whole thing has been very distressing and upsetting for everybody involved.”
Mr Pennington, who has no involvement with LVH Haulage, said it was a very difficult time.

“I have not been a director of LVH for more than two years,” he said.

“I think Mr Heard has done a marvellous job with keeping the business afloat and keeping people employed. Every issue with the traffic commissioner has been resolved.”