A transport manager nominated on seven O-licences has lost his repute after it was found he had tricked two of his employers into operating on bogus O-licences. They subsequently reported him to the police. In finding that Hugh McInnes, of Kinross, had lost his repute, the Scottish Traffic Commissioner Joan Aitken said if she had the power to disqualify a transport manager, she would have disqualified him for a long time.
Traffic examiner James Sweetin said that Glasgow-based William Stirling, trading as B E Transport, employed McInnes to be his transport manager, paying him £1,600 in fees. Stirling was supplied with a fraudulent O-licence issued by McInnes who grossly misled Stirling as to the requirements of the goods vehicle operator licence regime. Evidence was submitted that McInnes had duped two operators, who seemed to be operating on the same O-licence.
McInnes was nominated on the licence held by Glasgow-based Dylan McKelvie. But an application was submitted by Airdrie-based Freshfare quoting a licence number which was McKelvie's, requesting a change of transport manager from McInnes. Director Patrick Callaghan said he had used McInnes in 2004 to get an O-licence. McInnes provided him with a licence document that showed the company's name and address and a licence number, which, in fact, was McKelvie's licence number.
McKelvie said he did not pass his licence document to McInnes. Callaghan phoned him and said he had been shafted by McInnes for thousands of pounds, having thought he was on McKelvie's licence. McKelvie told him he could not have been because he was not operating and had sent his licence back.
Callaghan said that from November 2004 the company had been operating on a bogus licence. He and Stirling went to the police about McInnes. Co-director Sarah Strang said that a worry for them was that not having a licence meant that their insurance was invalidated. They had thought their business was legitimate. Other operators told the TC that McInnes had not carried out his duties as transport manager for some time due to ill health.
Preyed on innocent operators
The TC concluded that apart from doing a proper job in one case, McInnes had treated the other operators as a milk cow.
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