SCOTTISH Traffic Commissioner Joan Aitken was due to hear evidence this week from 15 drivers employed by Buccleuch Estates in connection with 2,035 alleged offences relating to their working hours and vehicle tachographs.
The inquiry, held in Edinburgh, was scheduled to run for three days, starting on Monday.
The alleged offences are said to involve drivers exceeding maximum hours, failing to take sufficient breaks and record-keeping issues.
As Traffic Commissio
ner, Ms Aitken has the power to revoke individual drivers' heavy goods vehicle licences and companies' licences to operate lorries.
She is expected to issue a written verdict during the next three or four weeks.
The offences are alleged to involve 17 lorries over a three-month period in 2006 and followed a routine inspection by the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency, which enforces the regulations.
They relate to seven operating centres in southern Scotland, including Selkirk, Melrose, Langholm, Thornhill and the Castle Douglas abattoir.
Covering 400 square miles between Scotland and Northamptonshire, the company is headed up by Richard Scott, who became chairman and the 10th Duke of Buccleuch following the death last September of his father, who left a £320million fortune.
The range of businesses operated by Buccleuch Estates goes well beyond those of a traditional rural estate and, as well as livestock haulage, includes everything from farming, forestry and estate management to commercial property development, housing building and meat and food production.
A spokesman for Buccleuch Estates told TheSouthern this week that until the hearing was concluded and a decision issued, the company was unable to comment.
The full article contains 265 words and appears in Southern Reporter newspaper.
