United Coaches of Motherwell and its Director, Helen McGroarty, have received a formal warning from the Traffic Commissioner (TC) for Scotland, Joan Aitken, in relation to repute.
The operator was also ordered to pay £2,000 to the Scottish Government by 30 October 2018, due to failings of local registered services.
The TC added a condition to the United Coaches licence, stipulating that access and egress to its High Street operating centre and any future operating centres must be in forward gear only.
The operator was criticised by the TC for registering services in a difficult operating environment. She described the registration of the services, which competed with the 217 and 232 operated by McGill’s, as ‘provocative,’ with services schedules to run at almost exactly the same time.
This ‘sparked a bus war such that I have not seen in many years,’ the TC said, highlighting police involvement and the charging and conviction of those involved. She said Helen McGroarty had been ‘very badly advised.’
Despite the action taken against the operator, a variation application was granted, with authorisation on the licence increasing to nine vehicles from five. The TC noted: “In cases where there are adverse findings, and this is such a case, it is unusual to ‘reward’ an operator with an increase in authorisation.
“In this case, I have the tool of a section 39 payment to mark regulatory displeasure and to sanction financially. Thus in the context of my being able to make a section 39 payment, I can allow myself to consider granting the variation application.”
