The director of a Birmingham builders’ merchants, who “took no interest in vehicle and driver safety standards”, has been banned from operating HGVs for three years.

Nick Denton, the Traffic Commissioner for the West Midlands, said BS & NK Panesar deserved to go out of business after it operated seriously unroadworthy vehicles and failed to instil the necessary culture of safety into its drivers.

Director Balbinder Panesar has been disqualified by the region’s industry regulator, and his firm lost its licence to operate vehicles on 29 May 2017.

Mr Panesar “clearly did not care enough about safety to establish and oversee a system which would have prevented his vehicles from being driven in such a poor condition,” the Traffic Commissioner concluded in a written decision.

He continued: “The result was a company culture where vehicle and driver safety was simply ignored. Road safety and fair competition against other operators who take the trouble and expense to comply has been jeopardised.”

At a public inquiry on 11 May 2017, Mr Denton heard evidence from the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency, following their investigations into the company’s vehicle and driver standards.