Three Scottish firms rapped
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• A Rosshire haulier had five of his vehicles removed from his operator's licence at Inverness this week. The Scottish LA heard that D. Noble and Sons, of Muir of Ord, who own 16 vehicles, received a prohibition order when a spot-check was carried out in July, and that 14 other prohibitions had been issued in the past and the firm had had three court convictions at Dingwall.
An Inverness scrap merchant, Mr Hugh Stewart, called under Section 69, was told: "You have failed to honour the undertaking you gave when your operator's licence was granted."
The LA was told that Mr Stewart had failed to carry out monthly preventative maintenance checks on his one vehicle and had kept no records of inspections. The LA deferred his decision in order to allow Mr Stewart to produce documents to show he has taken steps to carry out regular maintenance.
A Moray timber merchant, Mr Gordon Allan, a director of Allan Brothers Timber (Forres) Ltd, was given a warning over vehicle maintenance. But he was told he was "the victim of circumstances" after he explained that he had not realized maintenance records were not being kept for his two lorries.
Mr Allan said his vehicles were maintained by a full-time mechanic employed by another Forres firm. When this mechanic was paid off he had no alternative means of servicing.