0-licence rejected for running trucks illegally
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By Roger Brown
TRAFFIC COMMISSIONER (TC) for Scotland Joan Aitken has rejected an 0-licence application from a Renfrew operator who illegally ran trucks while she was considering whether to grant him the licence.
In a written decision following a public inquiry in Edinburgh in June and August, the TC also disqualified John Baird — trading as Scotia Trucking Services — from being a transport manager indefinitely. The hearing also looked at a previous 0-licence Baird had been connected to.
Baird had been disqualified as a director several years ago under a Companies Act disqualification order after a firm he had been involved with — Baird Express Freight — had gone into liquidation.
However, in July, while his new application was still being considered, a vehicle carrying wine was stopped by Vosa examiners at a roadside check on the A867.
It was not displaying an 0-licence disc, did not have a valid MoT and the trailer also did not have a valid MoT. The driver told Vosa officers
that he was working for Ian Baird, a name that John Baird is also known by.
Refusing Baird's application for two vehicles and two trailers, Aitken concluded: "He left a public inquiry where his repute was at stake and a month later Vosa caught him in the act of unlawful operating — and his motivation being to keep the work from other hauliers.
"He is not a person in whom I can repose trust. He has failed in the past in this regulated environment and also in the regulated environment of company law."