Repute fails on connections
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• A bid for a new licence was refused after Scottish Traffic Commissioner Michael Betts concluded the company did not meet the requirements for good repute or financial and professional competence because of its connections to a series of failed businesses.
The Dundee-based company had applied for a new national licence authorising the operation of four vehicles and four trailers.
Betts said director Arthur Low had accepted that vehicles had been used without a licence on three occasions. Low had known the company did not have an interim licence but had continued operating at a time when he must have known that it was under scrutiny. There was no excuse, said Betts.
He also considered that Low had a different view of financial propriety than others did. A business Low had run failed in the 1970s through a lack of finance and his assets were sequestrated in 1992 when Avon Trucks closed. Betts pointed out Low had also been closely associated with Willow Transport and
Oasis Transport, both of which were liquidated.
Low had main tamed the present company's cash-based business was a "goer" yet the bank would not give it an overdraft, said Betts. With Low's history, he was amazed at what still came over as a casual approach to financial backing. He had significant doubts as to Low's ability to control any transport company financially.
Ruling that the company's nominated transport manager, Low's daughter Karen, was not of good repute. Betts said he did so with some regret. She got herself into deep difficulties by trying to continue her father's business when he was sequestrated. Her father had been closely involved and he suspected that he had been the "power behind the throne" all along.
Nevertheless, Karen Low had taken full responsibility for her actions as licence holder in Willow Transport and as a director of Oasis. The result had been a trail of horrendous debts totalling almost £250,000.