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The original owner of failed transport firm CRS 24:7 has been disqualified for 18 months after a public inquiry heard how his business had expanded rapidly at the expense of compliance.

Gary Keenan has also been held to have lost his repute after Scottish Traffic Commissioner Joan Aitken read an "appalling" account from a traffic examiner of an investigation into CRS 24:7.

Aitken has now requested that the new owners of the company, Andrew Croll and Barry Stanley - who also run  Lancashire-based Fastserv - make submissions to her before she considers disqualifying them as well.

CRS 24:7 went into administration in August, just weeks after Croll and Stanley bought the firm from Keenan. Keenan claims the new owners failed to appreciate the size of the business and disputed the administrator's report that blamed much of its failings on him (CM 12 October).

But according to the TC, Keenan admitted that he had sought investors after being told by his finance director that the company was struggling as far back as March.

A VOSA investigation into CRS 24:7's activities during November and December 2004 revealed a litany of offences, including: 135 instances of insufficient breaks; 11 offences of exceeding 90 hours' fortnightly driving; 16 false record offences; and 13 instances of using an unauthorised operating centre. There was also 28,178km of unaccounted vehicle usage.

Aitken said: "The content [of the report] is appalling and reveals  an operator in complete breach of the licence undertakings to make proper arrangements so that the rules on drivers' hours and tachographs are observed and proper records kept."

She accepted that Keenan had gone to considerable lengths to remedy the situation, but said other road users had been put at risk by his lack of control. She revoked the company's licence on financial grounds and disqualified it from operating indefinitely.