An operator who has had his licence revoked for five years may still be able to carry on running vehicles in and out of the UK after establishing a second operation in Holland and transferring ownership of some of his trucks to it.
Aberdeen-based CDS Forwarding and its sole director Colin Strachan were disqualified from obtaining an O-licence in any traffic area by Scottish traffic commissioner Joan Aitken (pictured), after it emerged that one of the firm's vehicles had been stopped on the road during a previous licence suspension.
The company had its licence suspended for four weeks in February last year due to maintenance problems and falsification of maintenance records but one of the company's vehicles was stopped by police during the suspension.
Strachan said that the vehicle was up for sale and had been lent to Matt Barnes of MSB Transport to trial and that Barnes had been told he must insure the vehicle and put it on his own O-licence.
It was used to pull a CDS trailer on a run to Daventry and Nuneaton and vehicle examiner Gary Hughes said that when the vehicle was stopped, no O-licence disc was displayed. The excise licence had also expired.
It emerged that Strachan had also sold four of his original vehicles to Dutch company Esco which he bought in February 2006 in anticipation of his UK licence being revoked, not suspended, in the original inquiry.
The TC said that Strachan's behaviour was "criminal, calculated and motivated by self-interest".
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