Scottish TC refuses return of impounted vehicle

A man who wrongly claimed exemption from requiring an O-licence has lost his bid for the return of his impounded vehicle when Scottish Traffic Commissioner Joan Aitken ruled he was using it for business purposes and therefore operating illegally. Bryce Stewart, trading as Lothian and Borders Auction Services and Newbridge Recovery, of Edinburgh, had sought the return of the vehicle on the grounds that it was not being used unlawfully without an O-licence, as it was transporting his own goods.

Traffic examiner John Dunlop said the vehicle was impounded in October while loaded with a staircase, stainless steel banisters and two fire doors on a journey between Newcraighall and Mid Calder. Stewart said the vehicle had not been used for hire or reward and there was no evidence of him receiving any payments for work done with it.

Refusing to return the vehicle, the TC said she had no doubt Stewart was engaged in the business of moving goods. At some stage they would be goods he owned, by virtue of an arrangement whereby ownership transferred after they were cleared out of premises. In other instances, the goods were being moved into storage for receivers as part of the setting up of auctions. At the very least, he was using a vehicle in connection with a business carried out by him and it was utterly disingenuous of him to argue otherwise.

For reasons known only to himself and which she did not claim to understand fully, the TC said Stewart appeared to have set himself historically against applying for an O-licence, restricted or national. She could not save him from his own conduct and had no doubt the vehicle concerned was being used unlawfully without an O-licence.