The directors of a waste operator in Scotland have had their vehicle licences revoked because their lorries were being used for criminal activity.
Traffic Commissioner for Scotland Joan Aitkin disqualified Gary Doonin, Thomas Doonin, Robert Clarkson and their company Doonin Plant Ltd from holding or using an operator’s licence with immediate effect.
Doonin Plant was fined a record £200,000 in 2012 by the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency for pollution and other offences, including keeping controlled waste without a waste management licence.
After a public inquiry in August, Aitkin heard that Doonin Plant was still keeping waste without a licence, not carrying out proper safety checks on vehicles and displaying a licence belonging to another business on one of its trucks.
She said: “The evidence indicated that the products of waste would be likely to find their way into the surrounding land and groundwater causing harm to the environment.
“Lorries were at the heart of this criminality on the part of Doonin Plant Ltd and Mr Gary Doonin. Without lorries - and from the opinion of the court it is clear that Doonin lorries were being seen - this offending could not happen.”
In a scathing attack on the company and its directors, she added: “I need and want to put Gary Doonin out of operating heavy goods vehicles. The environment will be safer without him operating lorries. I want him out in the interests of road safety, the environment and fair competition, just as I want the company of which he is director out of operating.”
She also warned that any “proxies or puppets” acting on behalf of Doonin would be caught by the regulatory system.
The directors are disqualified from holding an operator’s licence for life.
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