Scotland’s Traffic Commissioner restricts Glasgow based fruit and veg wholesaler company’s vehicle licence for four months.
T R Caledonian Fresh Produce, which is based at Glasgow Fruit Market, will be limited to running three vehicles from 20 May 2016 following a public inquiry in Edinburgh.
Joan Aitken, the industry regulator, said she was ‘seriously unimpressed’ by the company’s behaviour after it had previously been warned about driver offences in 2012.
At the latest hearing, held in March this year, investigators from the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) reported that drivers working for the company had committed a number of offences, relating to the breaks and rest they are legally required to take.
Subsequent investigations revealed that the company was not undertaking any analysis of infringements committed by drivers or keeping a record of any warnings that had been issued for offences.
Aitken also heard that following a visit by DVSA, Police stopped one of the firm’s vehicles in November 2015. A DVSA examiner identified that the driver, the firm's director Hussain, had committed 12 offences, including insufficient daily rest, exceeding 10 hours driving and failing to take a break.
In evidence to the Traffic Commissioner, Hussain said there had been difficulties with journeys to Heathrow to collect fruit and vegetables – Adding that he would get held up by customers and sometimes had to wait many hours to load. He told the Traffic Commissioner that the operator’s licence was very important to the business as they could not do anything without it.
In a written decision issued after the hearing, Aitken concluded that the licence should have given more priority by director Ramzan Hussain. And also suspended his professional driving licence for eight weeks, with effect from 23:59 on 20 May 2016.
Another driver, Rabnawaz Hussain, had his professional driving licence entitlement suspended for four weeks from the same date.
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