News

Stephen Bowles has resigned as chairman of the Road Haulage Association (RHA) after just six weeks in office.

Bowles announced his decision to the RHA board last week after his application to be reinstated as director of family firm Roy Bowles Transport was rejected by Western deputy traffic commissioner Fiona Richards. His predecessor Willie Oliver has resumed the role of RHA chairman until the next round of elections.

Bowles says in a statement: "I feel that it is not appropriate  for me to continue as national chairman of the Road Haulage Association, an organisation which is widely held with the deepest respect."

Bowles and his sister Julie were applying to be reinstated as directors of Roy Bowles Transport after their conviction and suspended sentences for corporate manslaughter in 1999. The conviction followed a double-fatal accident in 1997 when one of the company's drivers fell asleep at the wheel. Former Western traffic commissioner Philip Brown then placed a condition on the company's licence, preventing the two from being directors.

In her written decision, Richards says the combined positive evidence presented before her did not outweigh the fact that the pair's convictions are not spent. She adds that this "remains in my opinion directly relevant to the matter of good repute as at the date of this decision".

RHA chief executive Roger King adds: "Steve thought his position was difficult if he couldn't be a director of his  own firm." The RHA declined to say if the affair had harmed its credibility.