The operator licensing regime is one built around trust and honesty between the traffic commissioners and operators.

The regulators need absolute certainty that the people they're licensing can be trusted to carry out their operations in a safe and lawful manner.

A business saw its licence application refused at a recent public inquiry when it failed to show any respect for the application process or the law.

The firm persistently ignored warnings not to operate illegally but was stopped by DVSA on a number of occasions doing exactly that - even after being explicitly advised of the rules.

It took over two months for the operator to submit an application for a licence. Which meant they'd continued to operate illegally during that time and left other compliant operators following the correct procedures, like you, at a disadvantage.

On the day of the inquiry, the business failed to produce any of the requested evidence to support its application and claimed it wasn't aware it was doing anything wrong.

Traffic Commissioner for the West Midlands, Nick Denton, concluded the firm couldn't be trusted to operate within the law going forward and refused the application.

You can read the latest Traffic Commissioner decisions here.