Three Directors Disqualified after Firm "Put Business Before Safety"

A haulage company has been put out of business after it was recently
fined for Health and Safety breaches in relation to the death of a
member of the public.

Munro & Sons (Highland) Ltd's operating licence was revoked by
Scotland's Traffic Commissioner Joan Aitken. She also disqualified two
directors for seven years and a former director for two years.

The commissioner's decision came after the company was prosecuted in
relation to an incident on 5th July 2006. The company breached
sections 3(1) and 33(1) of the HSWA 1974, when a 30-tonne wheeled
loader, which the company was considering buying from Umax Ltd, rolled
off the trailer it was being transported on for tests, and crushed a
car on the A9 Inverness to Scrabster road. A woman was killed in the
collision, while another was injured.

Warning other operators she said: "Disqualified operators often seek
to re-emerge in other corporate form. I warn other operators and
persons to be very wary of providing a front for continued operation
by Messrs Munro."

A court concluded that Munro's driver did not have adequate plant,
materials or any information about the vehicle's weight. The court
also stated that the driver had an inadequate number of sufficient
weight-bearing chains to secure the loader and was not informed about
the poor quality of the brakes on it.

Further information to the Crown included a remark attributed to
Munro's contracts manager, Andrew Gillies, who said: "The chains broke
once the lorry went up the hill and the machine came off. These old
f**king chains are never checked." The company director William Munro
declined any responsibility for the wheel loader or agreement to
purchase it, and it was returned to Umax Ltd.

In April 2008, Munro & Sons was fined £3,750, but after an appeal in
January of this year, the Appeal Court judge increased this penalty to
£30,000. This was after a ruling that the sentencing judge had based
the original fine mainly on Munro's ability to pay, and had not taken
the gravity of the offence into the account.

Following a public inquiry and driver-conduct hearing in March held at
Inverness, the company has now been put out of business.

The Traffic Commissioner said: "The operator clearly had no idea of
modern competence in the manner of moving heavy equipment. It was the
grossest error of judgement undertaking that journey with that
equipment. For a goods-vehicle operator it was an act of astonishing
recklessness."

Aitken accepted that the company had organised some driver training,
and had appointed a health and safety consultant to look after its
road-haulage business. However, she concluded that the directors,
William and David Munro, had "put business before safety", adding that
their "demeanour as respectable and responsible has the allure of the
mirage".

She disqualified David and William Munro for seven years, as well as
former director, Pamela Munro, for two.