A COACH company owner who fell more than four months behind on safety checks is to lose his licence after a watchdog said it was “only a matter of time” before passengers were hurt.

David Thompson has been disqualified from running David Thompson Tours Limited of Parley, which runs tours in the UK and abroad, for the first six months of 2011 after coaches were found with a loose seatbelt bolt and hazardous fuel leaks.

A traffic commissioner carrying out a second public inquiry into the running of the 11-man business decided that failure by the firm to make improvements agreed upon in January 2009, or to inspect newly purchased coaches, was unacceptable.

Mr Maddrell said: “I cannot trust him to be compliant in the future and operators have to be worthy of trust.

“Although nothing has yet happened to cause actual danger, Mr Thompson’s attitude to his responsibilities – and he is now 57 and not likely to change – are such that it is only a matter of time until actual danger causes injury or worse.”

Calling it a “dismal story” in which Mr Thompson had lost his professional competence and repute, he added that putting an end to a business and depriving customers of a service was regretful, but that safety of passengers and other drivers were more important.

He said the site’s maintenance facilities were inadequate, and reporting defects was sketchy. He also disqualified Mr Thompson’s partner and company secretary Elizabeth Humphrey for three months.

Mr Thompson was unavailable for comment. Neal Williamson, the company’s traffic manager, declined to comment.

David Thompson Tours Limited recently moved from protected land on Christchurch Road after a three-year planning battle, and now operates from Parley Manor. David Thompson Tours has 10 coaches and works for two holiday companies abroad and in the UK.

Regular services include a route into the New Forest District Council area and a daily route to and from Salisbury. It does not operate any school runs, but schoolchildren travelled with the company for outings such as ski holidays.

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