TC refuses to return impounded truck TC for Scotland Joan
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Aitken rejects application from Edinburgh-based phoenix firm By Roger Brown Operator: Lindsay Scaffolding Matter: 0-licence law, phoenix company Hearing: Edinburgh Area: Scotland Presiding TC: Joan Aitken TRAFFIC commissioner (TC) for Scotland Joan Aitken has refused to return an impounded vehicle to Edinburgh-based Lindsay Scaffolding Contracts, which was previously denied an 0-licence on the grounds that it was a phoenix company.
At an impounding hearing in May, the TC heard details about a Vosa investigation into the whereabouts of vehicles operated by Lindsay Contracts — sole director Grant Lindsay — which had gone into liquidation in July 2010. Earlier this year, a member of the TC's staff alleged they had seen a vehicle in Lindsay Scaffolding Contracts livery loaded with scaffolding.
In January 2012, Lindsay and his new business Lindsay Scaffolding Contracts applied for an 0-licence for three vehicles, but deputy TC for Scotland, Richard McFarlane, rejected the application, saying it was a phoenix firm.
On 5 April Vosa examiners noticed a 7.5-tonne Iveco flatbed, in the company's livery, loaded with materials. They then discovered the vehicle wasn't displaying an 0-licence disc, although an out-ofdate standard national disc was lying low down between the demister vents and windscreen. The driver said he had started working for the firm earlier that week and that he had used it on a daily basis to move scaffolding, under instructions from Lindsay. At the hearing, called to consider the application from Lindsay Scaffolding Contracts for the return of the impounded truck, TC Aitken was told by a Vosa officer about further evidence of illegal and unauthorised use. Records from the digitach on the impounded vehicle proved it had been driven on 63 days between 15 December 2012 and 5 April.
Lindsay admitted that the firm was desperate to serve its customers, and that he had allowed vehicles to be used for certain jobs without authorisation. He added that he had made a fresh application for an 0-licence, under consideration at a separate inquiry, and outlined his agreement with a haulage firm to carry out transport work for his business.
However, TC Aitken concluded that his application for the return of the vehicle and his evidence had been about one thing: the financial difficulty that would be caused by the vehicle's detention.
"He took a risk and operated unlawfully, with the result that Vosa impounded the vehicle" said Aitken. "I cannot find any ground on which this application can succeed," she concluded.
Summing up Lindsay accepted that his company required an 0-licence to operate legally and conceded that he had been disrespecfful to the TC.