Extension bid adjourned
Page 19
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Scottish Traffic Commissioner Michael Betts has adjourned a bid for a new licence by Glasgow-based Timber Transport so that financial evidence could be considered, but he has granted the company interim authority to operate another five vehicles.
At the same inquiry he revoked the licence held by the associated company John Smillie on financial grounds.
Timber Transport, which currently operates under interim authority, was seeking a new national licence for 10 vehicles and 20 trailers.
The company's sole director, Thomas Hamilton, told the TC that two of the directors of John Smillie, George Templeton and William Cusack, had been involved in a management buyout of Glasgow Brick Yards. He saw a business opportunity and financed the purchase of John Smillie, which had been losing money for a few years, in return for shares in Glasgow Brick Yards.
The idea was to amalgamate the two operations to create a viable business. Unfortunately, four days later one of the
Oil companies put Glasgow Brick Yards into liquidation. The banks were only prepared to keep John Smillie going if large personal guarantees were forthcoming, which he did not believe was a proposition worth considering, so Smillie also went into liquidation.
Templeton and Cusack were employed by Timber Transport, said Hamilton, and he had also put in two transport managers who would oversee the day-to-day operation.
Cusack said he had lost a great deal of money trying to make things work.