A Dumfries and Galloway forestry contractor has been convicted of operating as a gangmaster without a licence.

At Dumfries Sheriff Court on Friday (15 October), Christopher Fairgrieve Murray of Dunscore pled guilty on a charge of section 12(1) of the Gangmasters (Licensing) Act (GLA) 2004* and was fined £2,500.

Murray had requested information from the GLA in September 2008 and admitted he was aware of the need for a licence, but he was found supplying two forestry businesses in the Dumfries and Galloway area between 4 December 2007 and 24 June 2009.

Paul Whitehouse, chairman of the GLA, says: “This man also put the businesses that used them in danger as we could have taken action against them as well, but we accepted that they had been effectively duped by Mr Murray into believing he didn’t need a licence.”

*The unlicensed supply of labour is a criminal offence under section 12 of the Gangmasters (Licensing) Act 2004, and the use of an unlicensed gangmaster is a criminal offence under section 13 of the Act.