Clare Benger

Clare advises clients on regulatory road transport issues, supporting hauliers and businesses operating heavy goods vehicles subject to operator’s licences.

She provides representation and advice in respect of public inquiries before the Traffic Commissioner and on appeal to the Upper Tribunal. Her experience enables her to guide operators through regulatory challenges while helping them protect their businesses and maintain compliance within a complex legal framework.

Clare also works with businesses operating minibuses, vans, buses and coaches, taking a strategic and commercial approach to help clients understand and meet complex regulatory requirements. She advises on matters including drivers’ hours, working time, vehicle maintenance, loading and driver licensing. Clare understands the commercial and regulatory pressures facing operators, whilst remaining focused on the personal risks to directors, including potential criminal liability, and helps clients mitigate these risks through practical and commercially focused advice.

In addition to her contentious work, Clare is experienced in advising on transactions involving operator’s licences, including due diligence on corporate acquisitions. She also supports real estate and development projects where regulatory considerations are key, helping clients identify and address potential risks at an early stage. By combining detailed regulatory knowledge with a strong understanding of commercial objectives, Clare helps clients navigate complex projects and make informed decisions with confidence.

Recent examples of how Clare has supported clients include:

1. Advising an operator supplying white goods, whose vehicle was involved in a bridge strike, whilst being driven by an agency driver. Clare helped them to implement more effective and robust systems in advance of the Public Inquiry before the Traffic Commissioner. The operator was only given a formal warning and avoided suspension, curtailment or revocation. The Traffic Commissioner was impressed by the work that had been undertaken and was reassured by the operator’s efforts to improve compliance.
2. Advising a global organisation as to whether they needed operator’s licences for vehicles being used across the UK and Europe. Clare considered the complex regulatory requirements, legislation and whether any exemptions were applicable, and advised the client as to the strategic considerations for cross-jurisdictional operations.
3. Providing strategic advice to companies during acquisitions to ensure that the entity being purchased was being run correctly, that any risk was mitigated in advance of completion, and that the new directors were protected from regulatory sanctions where possible.
4. Advising a steel stockholder on various strategic and regulatory issues, including an overloaded vehicle, an overweight vehicle found to have been crossing a bridge, and technical queries regarding maintenance issues and reportability of driver offences to the Traffic Commissioner.
5. Providing strategic risk management advice to various operators (with and without operator’s licences) in dealing with the handling of matters including drivers’ hours offences; overloaded vehicles; MOT failures; vehicle maintenance issues; and appropriate driving licences.