The boss of a Forfar operator who was disqualified from holding an O-licence for five years after he was discovered to have overseen widespread tacho fraud at the business, has failed in his appeal to have the length of the ban cut.
The Transport Tribunal said that it had "no hesitation" in dismissing the appeal from Alexander Kydd, who trades as Sandy Kydd Road Transport.
Dismissing the appeal, the Tribunal concluded: "From consideration of the papers, [we] have no doubt that [Kydd] must have known what was going on, and that the drivers were paid for hours actually worked: [Kydd] was fully aware of both the extent of the falsifications and of the many excess hours driven.
"Added to this is his persistent non-co-operation, his lack of frankness during the giving of evidence and his failure at any time to discipline his drivers."
Scottish Deputy Traffic Commissioner Richard McFarlane had revoked the firm's O-licence and disqualified Kydd following a public inquiry in April.
The inquiry had been told that drivers frequently broke the hours rules and falsified tacho charts in order to boost their earnings.
McFarlane concluded that they had done so aided and abetted by Kydd, and that the sole motivation for the fraud was "financial greed".
Kydd had attempted to get the length of his ban reduced to three years because he "had not known the full extent of the drivers' falsifications and excess hours worked".
