A Scottish operator that allowed its licence to be used by someone else, ran more vehicles than it was authorised to and went bankrupt in December has had its licence revoked until 2023.
Kevan and Sharon Quinn, trading as K&S Quinn Transport, whose operating centre was at East Kilbride, have both also been disqualified from holding an operator’s licence.
Kevan Quinn has lost his good repute as transport manager.
The action was taken by Scottish TC Joan Aitken in a written decision published after a public inquiry (PI) held in Edinburgh on 25 January.
The PI heard evidence from a DVSA examiner who stopped a vehicle in December. The truck was liveried as Strathclyde Plant but included in the cab window the words “operated by KS Quinn”. There was no operator disc on display and the MOT for the trailer had expired more than a year earlier.
Another vehicle stopped by a different DVSA examiner also revealed that the trailer was out of test and that the truck was not specified on Quinn’s licence.
Other offences included an overloading prohibition in December 2016, an overload fixed penalty in September 2016 and two drivers’ hours prohibitions.
The DVSA made several attempts to interview the partners without success, including an occasion in March last year when Kevan Quinn texted the examiner to say he had stress problems, couldn’t do the date, was going to surrender his licence, and sorry.
Quinn, who did turn up to the PI, did not challenge the DVSA evidence.
He explained that he was bankrupted for the first time 15 or 20 years ago but did not stop operating. Then he was again sequestrated (made bankrupt) in December 2017.
Sharon Quinn was not made bankrupt.
When the TC told Quinn that she would have to revoke the licence he said that he did not plan to run trucks again but would like to get a job in the industry as a driver or in the office. He added that everything had gone wrong and could not get worse.
Aitken observed that the licence had no financial standing.
She added: “On balance of probabilities in respect of the assessment of timescale, for approximately five years to 2016, Mr Quinn has provided his operator licence to allow Strathclyde Plant or other of Gerald Gaffney’s “Strathclyde” companies (details in brief), to move their goods (in their case vehicles).
“This was done on a vehicle bearing a disc and on unspecified vehicles. Other vehicles were used for which there was no disc or specification.”
TC Aitken also noted that Quinn had failed to co-operate with the DVSA examiner and misled him by saying he was going to surrender the licence when he did not. He also allowed the disc to pass from his control.
Aitken added as she revoked the licence: “His repute cannot survive the facts of this case. This applies also to his repute as a transport manager for there is nothing divisible about repute when an individual loses repute as an operator and is also the transport manager.
She concluded: “This is a bad case. Mr Quinn has operated on from a first sequestration. He has allowed his licence to be used by another. As disclosed in the DVSA report he has breached the licence undertakings.
“He failed to notify material changes – that the business was not operating as a partnership – and changes of address and cessation of use of the operating centre.”
By David Harris
