Firm off road after crash

A Highland haulage firm has been sanctioned for “compromising” road safety in the lead-up to a road crash which claimed the life of a teenager.

Kevin MacIver died after his Vauxhall Corsa collided with the side of a timber lorry which was manoeuvering across the B9175 Nigg to Kildary road.

The 19-year-old died at the scene of the accident, which happened in January 2014.

Scotland’s Traffic Commissioner Joan Aitken has now suspended Alex Campbell Haulage Ltd from the road for two months.

The lorry driven by Alasdair MacLean was being reversed into the yard off the B9175.

Mrs Aitken found that the yard had become “cluttered” which made it difficult to turn a vehicle and trailer.

Mr MacIver worked as

“In this case the operator compromised road safety”

a technical clerk for fabrication firm Isleburn at Nigg and left work at 5pm, heading to Saltburn near Invergordon.

The crash happened just a few miles from Nigg at the haulage yard at Carse of Bayfield.

The accident happened in darkness, although there were lights on Mr MacLean’s lorry.

In Ms Aitken’s decision published yesterday, she said it was not her role to determine who, if anyone, was to blame for the crash.

She said: “The tragedy of this case is that this operator compromised road safety by allowing the operating centre to deteriorate and change in use such that it was no longer suitable.”

She found that Mr Campbell was “so engrossed” in his business he had not considered the safety implications for other road users.

Mr Campbell declined to comment.