The Traffic Commissioner for Scotland Joan Aitken has fined the operators of a vintage tour bus in Glasgow £3,300 and banned them from applying to operate any new services for the next 18 months. Her decision follows complaints from passengers about non-running of the service.

At an Inquiry held in Edinburgh in April, the Traffic Commissioner heard that following complaints to inspectors from the Vehicle and Operators Service Agency (VOSA) from tourists and VisitScotland, compliance officers monitored the service which Beta Buses operated to and from Glasgow's George Square, between August and October last year.

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Of 72 journeys monitored, 21 failed to run and 27 services did not operate within the timetable parameters. Further monitoring on a date in October showed that no buses ran during the monitoring period. In all, a non-compliance rate of 70 per cent was recorded.

Beta Buses had previously been called to Public Inquiry in 2003, and warned as to the repute of the company, while another company owned by the same director Philip Doherty - Bayview Enterprises trading as PD Travel - had been called to Inquiry in 2005 for non-operation of services.

The company told the Inquiry they had been let down by suppliers of spare parts for the vintage bus used to operate the tours. They had since managed to obtain parts, and had taken steps to ensure the service ran as advertised. They had recently been awarded three stars accreditation by VisitScotland.

(GK/JM)