Haulier is banned from the road

Joan Aitken, traffic commissioner for Scotland, put Daniel out of business

A Dundee haulier has been put out of business and banned from holding a licence for large goods vehicles for five years.

Peter Daniel, who runs Peter Daniel Transport, was found to have faked tachograph records and drivers' hours.

Scottish Traffic Commissioner Joan Aitken said the evidence against him was both "considerable" and "serious".

The ruling follows a catalogue of breaches by the owner-driver dating from 2005 until May 2008.

In 2005 Daniel, who was authorised to have one vehicle and trailer, was fined £450 at Huntingdon Magistrates Court for having no operator licence.

This is as blatant a case of violation of drivers' hours as I have had of an owner driver in my time as Traffic Commissioner Joan Aitken

In the same year he also had a 36-hour prohibition notice placed on him for failing to take sufficient weekly rests.

He was also fined £200 at Inverness Sheriff Court in 2005 for creating two false records.

Following a visit by inspectors in 2006 and 2008, a number of driver infringements were uncovered.

In 2007 he was given a £2,000 fine at West Bromwich Magistrates Court after receiving a weight prohibition notice by police and Vosa inspectors.

A public inquiry into Peter Daniel's business said that investigations by officers at the time into the incident suggested the haulier had been working almost non-stop for two days.

In May this year he was fined a further £1,000 at Perth Sheriff Court for failing to use a tachograph record sheet.

In a statement, Ms Aitken said: "This is a very serious case in which an owner-driver has wilfully defied the licence undertakings and road traffic laws.

"The extent of his breaching of the drivers' hours rules and the degree to which he has put road safety and fair competition at jeopardy can only be guessed at given his interference with the tachograph recording equipment, the false records, the missing mileage and his failure to make his charts available when required to do so by the Traffic Examiner."

In delivering the ban, Ms Aitken added: "This is as blatant a case of violation of drivers' hours as I have had of an owner-driver in my time as traffic commissioner."