Licensing & duties
What is a public inquiry?
A public inquiry is a hearing before a Traffic Commissioner where an operator's licence is examined. It can result in the licence being curtailed, suspended or revoked, and in a transport manager losing repute.
It is called when compliance concerns are serious enough that the Commissioner wants to hear from the operator directly — typically after prohibitions, a poor maintenance investigation, or a failure to notify a material change.
What is examined is the system, not the incident. The question is whether the operator can be trusted to run compliantly going forward, and evidence of a regime that was already working carries far more weight than remedial action taken after the letter arrived.
Records are the case. An operator who can produce a year of inspection sheets, defect reports closed out and signed infringement briefings is making an argument no amount of assurance replaces.
What goes wrong in practice
- Producing records assembled in the weeks before the hearing, which is visible from the dates.
- Gaps in the record explained verbally, where the gap itself is the finding.
- Failing to notify a material change earlier, turning a manageable issue into a question of candour.