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Brown to take over from Betts
Page 7
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it Western Traffic Commissioner Philip Brown will become Senior Traffic Commissioner when Michael Betts retires at the beginning of March.
Before taking over the Western Region in May 2000 Brown was deputy TC in the Eastern region. But despite his wide experience he is seen as a surprise choice by some industry insiders who thought the post would go to Beverley Bell or Christopher Heaps.
Still relatively young at 49, Brown is considered to be very much his own man. Those who know him suggest he would not be afraid to stand up to officials at the Department of Transport if he thought they were pursuing the wrong strategy.
He certainly takes over at an interesting time: the merger of the Vehicle Inspectorate and the Traffic Area Office Network is due at the same time as he takes over, and he will be under some pressure to show that Public Inquiries will remain as impartial as they were before the two organisatons merged.
As Senior TC his main r6e will be to promote consistency in licensing decisions and procedures across the country, and to represent the TCs in talks with the DoT.
The DoT has yet to say who will be the next Scottish TC.