Good repute – when is a spent conviction not spent?

02 March 2023

You may or may not be aware of the concept of a ‘spent’ conviction – normally it means that such convictions needn’t be disclosed after a certain amount of time, for example in job applications. So, if you’re a transport manager and have a spent conviction then it won’t be relevant in a public inquiry, right? Wrong! The Senior Traffic Commissioner has identified a number of examples of where a traffic commissioner may consider using evidence of a spent conviction:

(1) Where a conviction has not been notified to the OTC at the time it should have been, evidence of the spent conviction may be admitted in the public inquiry.
(2) Where an operator has made a positive assertion about an event or offence that is incorrect, this might require a traffic commissioner to admit the relevant spent conviction. This is called ‘rebuttal’ in legal language.
(3) Where there is evidence of past behaviour which demonstrates the same issues with management. This is called ‘similar fact’ evidence in legal language.

If you find the above a bit confusing, you’re not alone. There are hundreds of pages of guidance documents on how the traffic commissioners should approach the work they do. Any busy operator would have a hard time keeping up with it – but it’s this level of attention to detail that a top-ranked Backhouse Jones transport lawyer brings to your case.

The Backhouse Jones team can provide expert guidance on everything relating to your operator’s licence from application issues to full support and representation at a public inquiry. For more information on Backhouse Jones’ team of expert road transport solicitors click here, call 01254 828 300, or email regulatory@backhouses.co.uk.

You can read the full Traffic Commissioner Guidance on good repute here.