First, Bell pointed out that the length of time it takes a business to receive an O-licence, if compliant, has not changed since she took over the role in 2000 – nine weeks. “That’s not progress,” she stated.
She called the age of the driving legislation, which is 20 to 30 years old, as a barrier to reducing application times to 3-4 weeks. In addressing government, she asked: “Is it appropriate to still have legislation that was devised in the 80s or 90s, or should we modernise?”
She went on to say that as the operator’s licence application is very inexpensive, traffic commissioners have historically been under-resourced. “We meet, as commissioners, with industry and know that you would be willing to pay a little bit more for a better service.”
She addressed the new strategic objective for DVSA and the traffic commissioners to work together to concentrate on the serially and seriously non-compliant offenders, saying: “When I appeared before the Transport Select committee and gave evidence, I spoke to them about DVSA targeting that soft underbelly of small operators who are easy to target. Most of them are fine. It’s some of the larger organisations that don’t get things right.”
She raised a concern that driver assistance systems in their many forms may not help drivers so much as distract them, and referred to the government campaign to put mobile phones in the glove box.
She carried on with the theme of drivers, but switched to buses and coaches, and asked, of government: “Is it appropriate in 2017 that the regulators of the commercial vehicle industry are not allowed to find out the previous convictions of drivers who carry passengers for a living?”
Turning to operators, she declared that TCs were aware of the need to ensure a level playing field in the market. She said: “Employing somebody is onerous. You confer rights on somebody. So I know that commissioners, enforcement agencies, trade associations will be looking closely to ensure sure that operators aren’t getting around those onerous rights by pretending that drivers are self-employed.”
In the context of Brexit, she suggested that some legislation could be made simpler and relevant to risk. She explained: “If you’re driving a milk tanker, then you’re subject to the domestic hours. But if you’re driving a diesel tanker, you’re subject to the EU regs. Does a milk tanker driver get more tired than a diesel tank driver? Discuss.”
Finally, when asked by a member of the audience for advice to operators, she replied: “Keep asking the questions and keep asking people to show you how they are doing their job properly.”