Licence ban for coach firm owner

Joan Aitken, traffic commissioner for Scotland, found the firm had lied

A coach hire company has been put out of business and its owner banned from holding a public service vehicle operator licence for four years.

Browns of Edinburgh has been found to be falsifying tachograph records and drivers' hours following a public inquiry.

Alistair Brown, who trades as Browns of Edinburgh, has a total fleet of 15 coaches.

An investigation was begun by traffic examiners in late August 2006.

A public inquiry was held on 14 April 2008.

Scottish traffic commissioner Joan Aitken found the operators of the firm had lied and falsified tachograph records and drivers' hours, and that their actions had breached the European Working Time Directive and potentially put other road users at risk.

This is one of the most serious cases that can come before a traffic commissioner Joan Aitken Scottish traffic commissioner

The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency received a complaint from an aggrieved ex-driver, who said the operator had been using ghost names on tachograph charts to hide drivers' hours offences.

The allegations were that Ronald and Rhona Brown (husband and wife and respectively son and daughter-in-law of the operator) ran the office and the operation, with Alastair Brown dealing with the fleet maintenance.

It was alleged drivers handed in tachograph charts and time sheets and were paid off the sheets.

It was said that there was a day book which detailed the drivers' duties and the allegation was that there were weekly rest offences because there was no regard to the back to back rest for the 12-day rule.

It was also alleged that there were daily rest and daily driving offences and the complainer gave an example of what would happen, namely that passengers would be dropped off, at say, their London hotel and the driver would drive back to base that night.

Thus ghost drivers' names were used to hide the excessive driving.

Driving pattern

In her summing up of the case Ms Aitken said: "I find that at the heart of this operation, there was a pattern of wilful and criminal flaunting of the drivers' hours and tachograph rules and the requirement to keep proper records.

"I find that there was no credible effort to comply with the Working Time Directive and to keep the records required by that directive.

"This is one of the most serious cases that can come before a traffic commissioner for the use of ghost drivers, missing mileage, drivers' hours offences, strikes at the very heart of the regulatory regime which is there to promote and protect road safety and fair competition.

"This operator has grossly offended against both road safety and fair competition.

"The drivers' hours provisions are there to make sure that drivers do not fall asleep at the wheel and there is a true risk that this would have happened to Browns drivers given the pattern of driving."