TC Joan Aitken cut the licence of Alan Rae and refused the licence of Lisa Hart, after evidence suggested the licence would be used for Mr Rae’s benefit
Drivers’ hours and tachograph offences led to the four-vehicle licence held by Bonnyrigg-based Alan Rae, trading as ATR Travel, being cut to one vehicle by Traffic Commissioner (TC) Joan Aitken.
The TC also disqualified former Transport Manager (TM) William Robertson from acting as such indefinitely.
An application for a new two-vehicle licence by Lisa Hart, trading as A&L Travel, of Bonnyrigg, was refused after the TC declined to accept its withdrawal because of a suspicion of it being made for Mr Rae’s benefit.
The TC suspended the PCV driving entitlement of Mr Rae’s son Daniel, who worked for his father, for two months.
The TC was told that DVSA’s interest in the operation of Mr Rae was sparked by intelligence received alleging that Daniel Rae, then aged 18, was driving on private hire work, including hires associated with the Edinburgh Military Tattoo.
Mr Rae told Traffic Examiners (TEs) that Mr Robertson worked 60 hours a month for him and audited the systems but was not paid – instead his car was repaired free of charge. There were no individual driver time sheets and no diary or other record of private hire work.
When interviewed, Mr Robertson said that he did not know how many drivers full or part time were employed. The majority of the business was school contracts with Dalkeith Council though he did not know how many. He was not sure what private hires were done. He wasn’t as aware as he should be of the drivers’ hours rules. He did not analyse charts. He did not check driver licences.
An analysis of the tachograph charts against the vehicle sheets revealed missing charts and missing mileage, including where the sheets were noted ‘tacho’ but none produced.
There were also instances where Daniel Rae’s initials were against tachograph journeys but no charts produced. Daniel was 19 during the period in question and thus age-barred from doing the full range of PCV driving.
When interviewed, Daniel Rae said that Mr Robertson told him that the Edinburgh Tattoo work was a contract and to write ‘tacho’ against every job, including road test, that was not a school contract and he would sort it out if there were a problem. He had used the bus to impress his girlfriend, having fun saying “you can get up to more things”.
In her decision the TC said that there had been no proper arrangements to ensure that drivers complied with drivers’ hours and tachograph rules and that records were kept for 15 months. No proper record, not even a diary, was kept of private hires.
She was not in the slightest doubt that the majority of journeys undertaken by Daniel Rae for which there were not charts were not intimate frolics with a girlfriend or very lengthy road tests, but private hire journeys.
There might well have been an occasion or two of a girlfriend journey or of road testing being needed, but proffering those explanations to the degree he did for all of the journeys undermined Daniel Rae’s credibility.
The arrangement with Mr Robertson was not contractual and was no longer genuine, and Mr Robertson’s engagement was not effective.
Ms Hart’s application had some signs of a phoenix or fronting application. Mr Rae’s evidence was that it would have been used to provide himself and Ms Hart with a source of income to supplement her modest income and provide driving work for him and another driver.
