A haulier with a history of non-compliance has had its 17-vehicle licence revoked and its transport manager disqualified, writes Carol Millett.
AL Campbell (Haulage), based at Carstairs Junction, Lanarkshire, has faced four public inquiries since 2003 and appeared before the Traffic Commissioner (TC) for a fifth in July this year. The TC found serious shortcomings in the company’s maintenance and defect-reporting systems.
According to the TC’s ruling, the latest inquiry followed a DVSA investigation into the family-run firm.
A vehicle examiner’s visit in November 2024 identified concerns over record keeping, AdBlue monitoring, wheel and tyre management, load security and the level of control exercised by the transport managers.
Following a subsequent desk-based assessment in 2025, incomplete inspection and maintenance records, ineffective planning for vehicles off the road and safety defects, and further shortcomings in wheel and tyre management were discovered.
A review in March 2026 found maintenance declarations missing from four inspection records, safety inspections without accompanying brake performance assessments, and inadequate records of defect rectification.
Transport manager Allan Campbell Jnr was also found not to have exercised effective and continuous management of the operation. The Commissioner barred him from relying on his Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC) and imposed the minimum disqualification period.
His mother, Pauline Campbell, resigned as transport manager and undertook not to rely on her CPC in future, having been found by the Traffic Commissioner to be a transport manager “in name only”.
