A BAKERY firm in Bradford has been stripped of its licence to run its fleet of vehicles after its drivers were allowed to fraudulently obtain qualifications

without being properly trained.

Haulage industry regulator Kevin Rooney condemned the actions of managers at Coultons Bread Limited, trading as Happy Bread, as inexcusable.

Mr Rooney, the Traffic Commissioner for the North-East, also said it was "unacceptable for a company to put profit before legal requirements".

Following a public inquiry, Mr Rooney said Happy Bread failed to ensure that drivers were legally able to meet a deadline to be qualified with a Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC).

He said: “Having effectively run out of time, the local management team took the decision to put in place arrangements such that driver qualification cards were issued to the drivers fraudulently, without the drivers having undertaken the relevant training."

This meant drivers for the firm were carrying qualification cards that had been falsely obtained.

The Traffic Commissioner added that the directors of the company had allowed this to happen by having insufficient control over the transport operation at Enterprise Court, Prince Street, Dudley Hill.

Mr Rooney said “Operator licensing concerns itself with fair competition as much as road safety.

"Compliant operators expect the Traffic Commissioner to take action against an operator who has fraudulently achieved driver qualification cards for the drivers. There has to be a measure of deterrence in my decision.”

Investigations by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) revealed that a number of drivers working for the company had been issued with driver CPC qualification cards when they had not completed the mandatory 35 hours of training, required of professional HGV drivers under new EU regulations.

DVSA examiners found that three CPC trainers in Greater Manchester, working for another operator, A B F Grain Products Ltd, trading as Allied Bakeries, had made false statements in order to obtain CPC qualifications for the drivers employed by Coultons Bread.

One of the CPC trainers admitted that he had signed 12 certificates to say drivers had undertaken the relevant training, even though he knew they had not done so.

Happy Bread had arranged for its drivers to be trained by A B F Grain Products Ltd.

Investigations revealed Happy Bread was aware that the qualifications had been fraudulently obtained. The drivers also admitted to knowing that they had not completed the required training.

The firm had run out of time for drivers to be qualified by the September 2014 deadline and faced the prospect of not having staff to drive vehicles and make deliveries.

Gerry Gorman, the fleet group transport manager for Happy Bread, said the company was now in limbo and he was exploring all options.

There was potential for job losses, but he was applying for a standard licence and one possibility was to get replacement three and a half ton vehicles which were not HGVs.

He said a large part of the company's business was distributing its products to outlets in the Yorkshire area.

He said that once the company had identified the problem with qualifications, it took action straight away.

Mr Gorman said: "We didn't sit on it. Procedures were devised as soon as it was highlighted and put in place. We knew we had failings and we dealt with it."

He insisted that training was much improved and the company was now qualified to carry out CPC training.

He also denied the company had put profit before legality.

"We accept responsibility but it wasn't for profit. We entrusted our training programme to an expert third party trainer, but communication got lost. There was a lot of naivety which meant corners were cut."

The regulator’s order to revoke the licence held by Happy Bread takes effect from midnight on July 8.

On its website, the firm says it runs a fleet of 15 vehicles which deliver to 700 locations across Yorkshire.

The Traffic Commissioner said he was satisfied senior management at ABF Grain Products Ltd, which has five depots in the north-east, did not cause the driver assessors to commit the fraud and did not encourage it in anyway.

He added that the company was otherwise highly compliant and therefore a formal warning would be recorded on its licence as a result of the actions of the driver assessors, who were convicted over the falsifications.