Robert Gibson, of Renfrew-based Gibson Coach hire Ltd, was suspended for 12 months after slipping licence discs to another driver who was also banned from driving coaches at the time.

He also had nine coaches pulled from the road after being caught sharing papers with his outlawed operator.

Joan Aitken, Traffic Commissioner for Scotland, reduced the operator’s licence held by Renfrew based business Gibson Direct Ltd, following a public inquiry.

Miss Aitken said she had taken the action to mark her “displeasure” at how the company’s licence has been operated, in particular the assistance given to a disqualified person.

Her order means that the company’s licence will be reduced from 39 to 30 vehicles, until January 5, 2016. She also told the firm that it would not be able to apply for any extra vehicles for 12 months.

In a written decision issued after the public inquiry, Miss Aitken said that for commercial reasons, tinged with some misplaced human sympathy, Robert Gibson did some deals with Thomas Withers of Ayrways Coaches Travel Ltd, who had been disqualified from the industry for 18 months in December 2012.

She added: “This is a very difficult case because the lending of a licence, the lending of a disc and the opportunity it would seem to get other discs to a disqualified operator strikes at the very heart of operator licensing.

“It is an action or series of actions which serve to undermine my orders and all the work of the enforcement agencies that make reports to me.

“Thomas Withers and Ayrways Coaches Travel Ltd, his company, deserved to be put out of business, deserved to be disqualified. My orders are made in the interests of road safety, the environment, fair competition and are essentially public protection orders.

“Undermining of these orders undermines all of those purposes of operator licensing.

She added: “So by putting Thomas Withers back on the road which is what Mr Gibson and others did, all the hard work the rest of us do to try and keep this country safe, to try and keep the industry fair, responsible, up to standard, and reputable are undermined and it was Mr Gibson at the heart of this operation who dealt in the discs and who did not look after the discs and ensure they were used for proper purpose and not lost, given away or stolen.” The Traffic Commissioner also ruled that Robert Gibson, of Neil Street, was no longer of good repute or professional competence and disqualified as a transport manager for 12 months.

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