A Scottish haulier that had been attempting to get a standard international O-licence since 2013 has had its application refused after four years of wrangling.
Hendry Aberdeen received a withering judgement from Scotland’s deputy traffic commissioner (TC) Richard McFarlane, who has followed the application since the beginning. McFarlane granted the company an interim licence in 2014 but there have been issues since then.
Hendry Aberdeen was refused the licence after several incidents where the DVSA said it found fault with the company. In October 2014, a traffic examiner alleged that one of the directors was abusive towards them on a call to check tachograph charts, while in March 2015 a prohibition notice was issued on one of the trailers on the interim licence.
In May 2015, a traffic examiner’s assessment of drivers’ hours was marked unsatisfactory and in June the same year a maintenance inspection was also marked unsatisfactory.
In January 2016, drivers’ hours monitoring was again found to be unsatisfactory, and a month later one driver had his driving licence suspended for using a mobile phone while driving.
In October 2016, one of the company’s vehicles was impounded on a public road, and there have been several sittings of a public inquiry into the case.
In his ultimate adjudication, which was issued last month, deputy TC McFarlane concluded that applicant Ian Hendry was “not a rehabilitated operator”.
He said: “I cannot trust him; I do not trust him. The positives about the operation are heavily outweighed by the negatives.”
Not only was the licence application refused and the interim licence revoked, but Hendry Aberdeen was also disqualified from holding an O-licence, directly or indirectly, in any traffic area, indefinitely.
John Dunnett Hendry was also disqualified from holding an O-licence.
Ian Hendry was judged to be “not of good repute” and the applicant company was deemed to have failed the test of appropriate financial standing.
He also had not ensured that annual accounts were filed on time at Companies House.
Ian Hendry’s son, David Hendry, was also disqualified from holding an O-licence, directly or indirectly, in any traffic area, for five years.
