Mr Astle said the company's transport manager "failed to ensure the necessary systems for maintenance of vehicles" had been place and also "failed even to be aware of the extent to which there was such failure".

BBC: Scotland business

The suspension order will only be lifted when the Edinburgh-based company appoints a new transport manager.

BBC: Scotland business

Sir Moir was the general manager of Grampian Regional Transport in effect, Aberdeen's municipal bus company when it was privatised by Margaret Thatcher in the mid-1980s.

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