Sons to run Kildonan lime extended to
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beef up bridges
by Mike Jewell • Billy Walker, former managing director of Turriff-based Kildonan Transport, has been banned from holding or obtaining an 0-licence for three years.
Kildonan Transport's licence, for 45 vehicles and its 90 trailers was also revoked by Scottish Licensing Authority Michael Betts at a hearing last week.
Betts has granted a year's licence for 35 vehicles and 60 trailers to Kildonan International Forwarding run by Walker's two sons, Adrian and Andrew.
The grant was made on the condition that their father plays no part in the company. It is also subject to information showing the required amount of capital and reserves with details of the company's pension fund to underwrite these. Betts will review the position of the company in 12 months. Kildonan Transport, formerly called Kildonan MacBrayne, had its licence authorisation halved last year (CM 18-24 March).
The company was only allowed to continue operating after assurances were given that Walker's sons would be in charge.
But since then the LA was told that there had been further prohibition notices and convictions: some cheques for payment of vehicle excise duty were not honoured.
But Billy Walker contined to "meddle" in the company's affairs: causing Andrew and Adrian to resign as directors and transfer the controlling shareholding back to their father.
This happened a month before Kildonan Transport went into receivership on 17 January.
Adrian Walker said at the hearing that even following promises made at the last public inquiry, his father tried to run the company as he had before. • The Department of Transport has shocked municipal engineers by telling them that the 1999 deadline is only for assessing council bridges, not strengthening them.
Highway engineers claim the programme of assessing and strengthening bridges is behind schedule and will slip further next year when Government funding will fall. As a result they expect major traffic disruption.
But the Department of Transport counterclaims that trunk roads and motorway bridges will be strengthened in time and that trucks do not need to use local roads.