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Contingency plans are being drawn up to run some bus services in Harris after an operator was banned from running so many vehicles.

Kenneth Maclennan of Grosebay received damning criticism over the "poor roadworthiness" of his vehicles from the Scottish Traffic Commissioner.

The 50-year-old - who had authorisation for five buses which are used for three local services - came close to being stripped of his operator's licence following a public inquiry.

Mr Maclennan is indefinitely restricted to operating only one bus until he shows he can follow the rules.

 

 

The penalty commences when the schools break up for Christmas to give the Comhairle a chance to find a replacement operator.

The council says it will tender the affected routes and is making "interim arrangements" meanwhile.

In addition, Mr Maclennan had permission to operate two lorries and a trailer for his removals and haulage business.

Mr Maclennan's goods vehicle authorisation was limited to a single, designated lorry for four months.

The public inquiry had heard of a catalogue of serious failings including a "poor standard of inspection and repair" to buses and inadequate record keeping.

Traffic commissioner Joan Aitken believed Mr Maclennan tried to keep his vehicles hidden from examiners in Tarbert.

 

Since 2009, his buses had a "very high failure rate, with many repeat presentations," in their annual tests, including one with "a serious brake defect," the inquiry was told.

 

One of his buses had no Mot and was carrying school children when stopped by police in March this year, according to the commissioner's report.

 

She fiercely condemned the "disgraceful state" of Mr Maclennan's operating centre and working conditions in Grosebay as "unfit for purpose." It was later tidied up but the inspection pit still needed improvements.

 

Only specified vehicles should be used on an operator's licence, yet he "knowingly" operated a pool of vehicles, whilst only informing them about two lorries, said the commissioner.

 

His arrangements were "stretched and administratively shambolic" and he was "unedifying" in blaming staff for using a wrong tax disc on a bus.

 

Mr Maclennan failed to renew his own professional driver's certificates following a sheriff court disqualification despite a reminder he had been driving for eight months without the entitlements on his licence, said the commissioner.

 

Apart from road safety, he had an unfair advantage over rivals who properly ran their business, she added.

 

"Fortunately, Mr MacLennan failed to get additional school contracts" from the council which would have seen him running ten buses, she said.

 

Mr Maclennan indicated to the inquiry he was overwhelmed with running the business and was "spread too thinly."

 

He  took the opportunity to take over a haulage business and to bid for the school contracts but did not have the resources or infrastructure.

 

He said he did not hide vehicles but moved them out of the Tarbert ferry car park to allow DVSA examiners access.

His drivers had their entitlements and cards. Having an untaxed vehicle on the road was an employee's error he maintained.

He had since took on a mechanic, was buying a yard at Urgha, and renting a facility in west Harris.

A Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) examiner reported they received anonymous tip-offs about deficiencies.

The inquiry was told a prohibition notice was issued to one school bus before it set off to pick up pupils in January 2014. The defects were a faulty emergency exit door and a seat belt with ragged edges.  

The same day, a steering defect resulted in his Scania lorry also receiving a prohibition.

"That there were only two prohibitions has nothing to do with the competence of the operator and all to do with the inevitable absence of a permanent DVSA presence on Harris," stressed the traffic commissioner.

 

She added: "It is unacceptable that a school bus should not have doors capable of opening from inside and outside."

 

 

Temporary arrangements for Harris buses after operator censured

 

18 November 2015