Scottish haulier MGS Civil Engineering has O-licence revoked for serial non-compliance

Commercial Motor
May 29, 2018

 

An Aberdeen firm working on road projects in Scotland has had its O-licence revoked and its sole director disqualified from having a licence for two years following a string of offences.

MGS Civil Engineering and its sole director Mark Gill were told of the decision of traffic commissioner (TC) Joan Aitken following a public inquiry (PI) on 11 May.

MGS’s licence had already been suspended at a PI in October 2017 for eight weeks but the latest PI concluded that this suspension had not been complied with, and the four discs of the vehicles on the licence were not returned to the TC’s office in Edinburgh.

Evidence given at the PI in May also indicated encounters with the DVSA during the period of suspension.

On 3 November last year an MGS vehicle was inspected by the DVSA after an incident when it was leaving repair premises. No operator disc was in the window and the DVSA database indicated the suspension.

In a further incident on 24 November police reported that an MGS vehicle driven by Gill was stopped. He claimed it was being moved for repair. The TC’s written report said: “Gill confirmed that the vehicle was not meant to have moved and that he was going against the TC’s instructions.

He said the tachograph was also defective and presented an analogue chart with date and mileage but nothing else. He could not produce his driving licence, CPC or digital tachograph card. The police officer instructed that the vehicle be returned to the yard and parked up.”

The PI also heard that of the four vehicles involved in the original suspension order, all had now either been sold or moved to Ireland.

The TC said: “Given the patent non-compliance with my suspension order and the paucity of evidence in relation to proper arrangements for the licence undertakings, I made an immediate order of revocation and indicated that I was reserving my decision on disqualification.”

The TC added that it was now clear that Gill never had any intention of grounding the four vehicles that should have been suspended.

She said: “My suspension order has been breached in letter and in spirit. I was testing whether or not Gill could be trusted. That means all the requisite trust has gone. MGS and Gill, indivisible for he owns and directs MGS, cannot operate in Scotland. There is not the remotest basis on which I could trust him.”

In conclusion, the TC added: “This is a case that requires disqualification. MGS/Gill has had many pointers as to what is required of the compliant operator. He has come up to work on these lucrative road building projects in Scotland, has been glad of the contracts and the good work involved in such, but he has not been prepared to operate compliantly and lawfully according to the standards of the 1995 Act. His breaching of the suspension orders took him across the line.”

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