Norwich coach firm’s licence revoked after “serious infringements”

Peoplemovers, based at Fir Covert Road in Felthorpe, had its licence revoked by the traffic commissioner for the East of England at a hearing in Cambridge on June 20.

The order comes months after the firm was fined by Norwich Magistrates' Court in February for three offences including driving without a licence, using a vehicle without an MOT certificate and not exhibiting a operator's licence disc.

Peoplemovers' director Mark Harvey did not attend the hearing and the licence was revoked by the traffic commissioner Richard Turfitt in his absence.

The hearing heard that on September 19 2012, enforcement officers from the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) stopped one of the firm's minibuses on University Drive in Norwich.

The driver, Julie Harvey, was carrying five passengers from the University of East Anglia to the student halls of residence.

The VOSA officer noted that the minibus was not displaying an operator's licence disc.

Checks on Mrs Harvey's driving licence also revealed that she was not allowed to drive the vehicle when carrying passengers for hire.

Records also showed the vehicle did not have a valid MOT.

When interviewed the director, Mr Harvey, said that he thought the vehicle was operating on a private road, owned by the university.

This led him to believe that the vehicle did not fall under the normal operator and driver licence requirements.

Mr Harvey said that although his firm had originally quoted a price to the university, they did not actually charge them for the journey.

The revocation follows on from a hearing at Norwich Magistrates' Court on February 7 where the company was fined £1,200 after pleading guilty to three offences.

The company has now been bought and is no longer trading as Peoplemovers.

Peoplemovers also sold one of their sites on Javelin Road in Norwich in 2011 to Andrew Arthurton who trades separately from Peoplemovers through the garage called MOT 610.com.