Moore Blatch and Tenon Recovery help bring about change in transport regime

Insolvency experts from Moore Blatch and Tenon Recovery addressed the Traffic Commissioners and their Deputies who are responsible for licensing heavy goods and public service vehicles in the UK, at their annual training conference in November.

In a Joint Presentation, both companies provided an overview of insolvency law, focussing on the type of administration and business recovery issues the Traffic Commissioners come across, when dealing with licenced transport companies, when administrators are called into failing companies.

“The insolvency and road haulage regimes do not always work very well together. The conference was an ideal opportunity for us to share our experience and provide direction to assist the two regimes to find more common ground,’’ said Mark Osgood, Moore Blatch partner and head of Business Recovery and Insolvency.

Moore Blatch, a long-standing member of the Road Haulage Association, and Tenon Recovery examined how insolvency procedures can proceed more efficiently for haulage companies.
Encouraging considerable discussion, the Traffic Commissioners were keen to treat companies facing insolvency and solvent competitor companies fairly, as both were likely to be affected by their decisions.

Jim Haddow, Associate Director of Tenon Recovery and Member of the Institute of Transport Administrators comments: “This was an excellent forum which allowed the Traffic Commissioners to openly voice their concerns when dealing with failing companies.

“By learning more about insolvency, they were able to see that a lot of their concerns could be addressed by application of the right legal procedures.”

Mark Osgood adds: “It became clear that it is beneficial to involve the Traffic Commissioners in the insolvency process at a much earlier stage. We suggested that they should consider lobbying to become formal stakeholders in insolvencies of licensed transport companies, so that they can be better informed earlier, enabling them to better utilise their own procedures and to work with the Insolvency Profession.

“The market is still quite tough for certain industries with haulage companies feeling the pinch in particular, it is therefore vital that we all try to simplify procedures for businesses faced with difficult decisions,” he explained.

The conference concluded with the Traffic Commissioners acknowledging that the exchange of information between the professions had been useful with a mutual consensus that there should be a continuing dialogue. Discussion also indicated that a proper working party should be set up, to continue to increase transparency between the two regimes.