‘Serious shortcomings’

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BK63 ZSP was one of a number of relatively unusual King Long and BMC vehicles in the fleet. DUNCAN COGHLAN

Bain’s Coaches of Oldmeldrum has lost its O-licence following significant failures in record-keeping and maintenance

In August, Traffic Commissioner (TC) for Scotland Claire Gilmore revoked the operator’s licence of Oldmeldrum-based Bain’s Coaches along with the related licence of ABC (Methlick) Ltd, and disqualified licence holder Douglas Bain.

Douglas Bain traded as a sole trader under the Bain’s Coaches name and had held a standard international operator’s licence with authorisation for 12 vehicles since 1994. He was also the sole director of ABC (Methlick) Limited which also held a standard international operator licence since October 1990 and with authorisation for six vehicles. Mr Bain was the nominated transport manager for both licences.

The Traffic Commissioner’s office received reports from DVSA Traffic Examiner (TE) Jill Jarvis and from DVSA Vehicle Examiner (VE) Henry Mackie alleging various infringements on the part of the operator’s drivers that had not been identified by the company. It was also alleged that there were ‘serious shortcomings’ in the compliance systems for drivers’ hours and maintenance used by the operator.

Mr Bain had attended a preliminary hearing and a public inquiry in 2019, following which the Deputy Traffic Commissioner issued a warning. In light of the recent evidence, Mr Bain t/a Bain’s Coaches was called to public inquiry (PI), and given the nature of the concerns and his sole directorship and role as transport manager of ABC (Methlick) Ltd, the TC directed that that operator also be called to inquiry.

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