A Scottish haulier with a history of non-compliance has had its 17-vehicle licence revoked and its transport manager disqualified, after a Traffic Commissioner found serious shortcomings in its maintenance and defect-reporting systems.
A L Campbell (Haulage), based at Carstairs Junction in Lanarkshire, has undergone four public inquiries since 2003 and in July this year faced its fifth public inquiry.
According to the Traffic Commissioner’s ruling, which was pubished this month, this latest inquiry was triggered after the DVSA launched an investigation into the family-led firm.
The investigation included a vehicle examiner’s visit in November 2024 which identified concerns about the haulier’s record keeping, AdBlue monitoring, wheel and tyre management, load security and the level of control exercised by the transport managers.
A subsequent desk-based assessment in 2025 identified incomplete inspection and maintenance records, ineffective planning for vehicles off-road and safety defects, and shortcomings in wheel and tyre management.
A further review in March 2026 found maintenance declarations missing from four inspection records, safety inspections without accompanying brake performance assessments and inadequate defect rectification records.
At the public inquiry Traffic Commissioner Richard Turfitt found A L Campbell (Haulage) had contravened several sections of the Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Act, including failures relating to vehicle maintenance, driver defect reporting, licence undertakings and the role of its transport managers.
Transport manager Allan Campbell Jnr was also found not to have exercised effective and continuous management of the operation.
The Commissioner prevented him from relying on his Certificate of Professional Competence and imposed the minimum disqualification period.
His mother, Pauline Campbell, resigned as transport manager and gave an undertaking not to rely on her CPC in future, after the Traffic Commissioner found that she was a transport manager “in name only.”
The Traffic Commissioner was also critical of the operator’s driver defect reporting arrangements. Drivers generally returned to the operating centre on Fridays, with defect reports reviewed on Saturdays. Many reports showed nil defects and lacked sign-off, while there was no routine daily review process.
The Commissioner said Campbell Snr had relied on trust in drivers rather than checking their reports and that the transport managers had not established adequate scrutiny of the systems.
The ruling also highlighted the operator’s previous regulatory history. It had appeared at public inquiries in 2003, 2006 and 2012 over alleged tachograph offences, receiving warnings on each occasion. A further warning followed a DVSA maintenance investigation in 2014.
A 2019 public inquiry resulted in a temporary reduction of the authorised fleet from 17 to 14 vehicles and findings that the operator’s repute had been severely tarnished.
The Commissioner acknowledged that improvements had been made, including investment in a rolling-road brake tester and the introduction of a driver defect-reporting app. Consultant John Reid had also been brought in to assist with compliance from April 2026.
However, the Commissioner concluded that the improvements had come too late to demonstrate that Campbell Jnr could independently exercise effective and continuous management.
The ruling noted that the operator had planned to establish a new limited company, with Campbell Jnr as transport manager, but that the new entity had not yet been incorporated at the time of the inquiry.
The Commissioner allowed time for a new licence application to be made and for an application for interim authority to continue the business to be considered.
He concluded: “I imposed the minimum disqualification period on Mr Campbell Jnr to allow him opportunity to work with an experienced CPC holder to learn how to exercise effective and continuous management of a transport undertaking before he might apply to rely on his Certificate again.”
