Traffic Commisisoner (TC) Joan Aitken has refused to return a third impounded vehicle to the McKendry family.
On this occasion Douglas McKendry had sought the return of a vehicle impounded by DVSA on 6 June after it was observed carrying passengers and not displaying an O-Licence disc.
Mr McKendry had his licence revoked in 2004. An application by Mr McKendry in partnership with his wife Ann was refused. His wife was subsequently granted a licence, trading as McKendry Coaches, subject to a condition that Mr McKendry was not to be engaged in the management of the operation. In March 2016, the estate of Mr McKendry’s wife was sequestrated and as a result her licence terminated.
In previously refusing to return two impounded coaches, the TC found that neither Mr McKendry nor his daughter Carrie owned them. She concluded that they were owned by a partnership between Douglas and Ann McKendry, trading as McKendry Coaches, who were carrying out an unlicensed operation.
She also found that Mr McKendry continued to be involved in the day-to-day running of McKendry Coaches [routeone/Court Report/23 November 2016] and the TC’s decision was upheld by the Upper Tribunal on appeal [routeone/Court Report/2 November 2017].
The McKendrys sought leave to appeal to the Court of Session against the Tribunal’s decision. Leave was refused and the McKendrys were ordered to pay the costs of the Advocate General in responding to the claim [routeone/Court Report/14 March].
The TC said that on 27 June 2018, Ian Ward applied – on behalf of Douglas McKendry – for the return of the vehicle on the ground that it not been used unlawfully.
The DVSA evidence was that they were aware that a licence application by Mr McKendry’s daughters – Carrie McKendry and Tracey Lauder – had been refused [routeone/Court Report/20 June]. The DVSA found an active website (www.mckendrycoachhire.co.uk) and it believed that the McKendry family were operating for hire or reward without a licence.
The driver of the vehicle stopped on 6 June said that he was to take bowlers from two pick-ups in Edinburgh to Cupar. He also said he was employed by Ann McKendry and that his instructions came from her.
He was a part-time driver, paid in cash. He didn’t know how much he would get – he did it to get out the house. It was always the same vehicle he drove, which was based in a scrap yard at Loanhead. He expected the hirer to pay at the end of the journey and the vehicle did not have a tachograph.
He subsequently said that Ann McKendry was not the boss, it was Mr McKendry who was the boss, and DVLA records showed that the vehicle was registered to Mr McKendry.
She did not have the slightest doubt that the vehicle was being used for hire or reward and that a licence was required.
