Lifetime ban for Kilsyth haulier deemed 'blight on the industry' by Scotland's Traffic Commissioner

In 2015 the transport regulator banned William Davidson for six years, but this has now been extended to life following a public inquiry which concluded in December.

Traffic commissioner Joan Aitken said it was “crystal clear” that the case had no redeeming features and Davidson could not be trusted, would exploit and use others and had been “shameless” in his dealings with the licensing regime.

An operator’s licence held by John L Campbell Ltd had been sold to another party, Lynne Smith, but was ultimately controlled by William Davidson who was banned from operating vehicles.

Miss Aitken said it would be perverse not to find that Lynne Smith had acted as a front for William Davidson.

“By allowing her name to be used [in this way] she has perpetrated a very serious deceit on an operator licensing system which exists to keep people safe and for safe and fair operation of goods vehicles.”

Lynne Smith, who did not attend the inquiry in her capacity as director of John L Campbell Ltd, was also disqualified for life by the commissioner.

William Davidson was initially banned in 2015 when he was a director of Chillin Transport Ltd. Investigators reported the company was operating more vehicles than permitted and took over another person’s operator’s license - behaviour Scotland’s Traffic Commissioner said grossly offended fair competition and shattered trust between the regulator and the operator.