A LORRY driver has been banned from professional driving from 20 years after an inquiry heard a "chilling" account of his dangerous driving on the A75.

Hugh Richardson, 54, of Newhall Street in Dalmarnock, Glasgow, was stripped of his HGV licence until at least 2035 - when he will be 75 - "in the interests of road safety".

Richardson was disqualified after the Traffic Commissioner for Scotland, Joan Aitken, warned she would not wait for him to kill or injure someone before ending his career as a lorry driver.

He had been applying to have his professional driving licence reinstated following an existing three-year ban in relation to traffic offences including using a mobile phone at the wheel and exceeding driving hours.

The Commissioner heard that Richardson had subsequently been convicted of dangerous driving on the A75 by exceeding the speed limit in his lorry, driving dangerously close behind another vehicle, overtaking a car despite continuous double white lines and, on the same journey, overtaking a second car and a lorry in a single manoeuvre round a blind right hand bend and over a blind summit.

He was found guilty at Stranraer Sheriff Court in November 2012, fined £1000, and told to re-sit his driving test following an 18-month disqualification.

The inquiry also heard that Richardson had been convicted on a separate instance in May 2013 for running a red light.

Richardson told the inquiry he was a reformed character following time in prison and wanted to return to lorry driving since it paid more than his current employment as a car auction yard operator and fast food delivery driver.

However, Ms Aitken said she was "especially wary" that he was motivated by money and said he would be disqualified from holding a lorry driver licence until his 75th birthday on November 29, 2035.

She added: "I remind him and also myself that it is simply good fortune which has protected other road users from death or injury through Mr Richardson's conduct.

"I do not have to wait for him to kill or injure someone before I can exercise my powers to disqualify indefinitely."