Transport manager incapacitated? The lose your O-licence

Ecosse International Transport has had its O-licence revoked following drivers’ hours breaches that occured after the firm's director had been seriously injured in a road accident.

In a written decision following a public inquiry in Edinburgh in December 2011 and January 2012, Joan Aitken, Traffic Commissioner (TC) for Scotland also disqualified the Kilmarnock-based firm and its director and transport manager Jimmy Ferguson for six months.

In October 2009, Ecosse was granted a standard international O-licence for three vehicles and the same number of trailers.

However, in December that year, Ferguson was involved in a road accident on the A11 when he had to swerve to avoid a man trying to commit suicide, with the result that he hit the central reservation, the vehicle overturned and the load of pigs had been shed.

He had been in hospital for two months after the accident - for which he was blameless - and was on heavy morphine to provide pain relief.

Vosa's interest in Ecosse started by complete chance in March 2010 when officers stopped one of the company's trade plated artics pulling timber in Kilmarnock.

A traffic examiner saw that the vehicles appeared to be operating out of the Cheale Meats facility in Brentwood, Essex, and only very occasionally returning to Renfrew which was the declared operating centre.

The examiner analysed 63 tachograph record sheets for the period 8 February to 21 March 2010, and found 12 false records where drivers had failed to record periods of driving or duty time and that a driver had falsified his tachograph record sheets to conceal a daily driving offence and weekly rest offence.

Ecosse had also failed to notify the TCs office about the resignation of one of its directors David Connor, in May 2011.

• Commercial Motor's Compliance and Best Practice Bulletin is sponsored by Tachodisc. To sign up to receive the monthly bulletin, go to the Compliance homepage.