Warning for Kildonan
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• "Grossly incompetent" Kildonan MacBrayne Haulage had its licence authorisation chopped by half at an Edinburgh disciplinary inquiry where the company was warned its repute is on a "knife edge".
Scottish Traffic Commissioner Brigadier Michael Betts cut the company's licence from 82 vehicles and 165 trailers to 45 vehicles and 90 trailers to take effect from 26 March.
Betts said the company had received more than 80 convictions in the past five years, over 60 since the last public inquiry, and more than 30 followed a warning letter. Vehicle examiner David O'Neill said the company had also been issued with 24 immediate prohibitions and 15 delayed prohibitions since a previous public inquiry in 1989.
Betts said he could not understand how there could be so many offences without connivance at a senior level or a serious failure of management. "Gross incompetence is the most charitable conclusion I can come to," he said. "The company's repute as an operator was on a knife edge," said Betts, adding that without improvements he could be looking at the repute of the company's directors and managers.
For Kildonan MacBrayne, David Burnside argued the number of convictions ought to be looked at against the company's seven million yearly mileage and number of vehicles.
Senior traffic examiner Angus McKinley gave evidence that the company was fined £1,050 recently after shotgun cartridges fell from a vehicle on the Isle of Skye. The company was also fined £900 for failing to forward a dangerous goods declaration and a packaging certificate and failing to pack drums of sodium hydrochloride safely.
David Burnside said that on both occasions the company had been unaware of the nature of the goods being carried. He added that the company had sacked unsatisfactory staff at Glasgow and scaled down the Highlands and Islands operations.