That’s the call from the Road Haulage Association, whose chief executive Richard Burnett (pictured) urges: “Operators who are not adhering to essential safety standards should be sought out and removed from the industry.”
He adds: “Mandatory auditing would flush out those operators that should not have a licence. It would be a decisive step towards minimising road safety risks and it would eliminate much unfair competition faced by the great majority of hauliers who are working within the rules.”
While the RHA supports the aims of the OCRS system, Burnett says “this is not enough”, adding: “The DVSA abandoned their new operator checks a number of years ago and we do not believe existing practice based on filling in forms correctly is good enough.”
DVSA, he says, needs to use its resources more effectively: “The highly skilled inspectors that DVSA employs do a great job on roadside inspections. Currently, too many are diverted away from on-road and site visit enforcement so DVSA can carry out routine lorry and bus MOT testing – a task that could be done by other qualified inspectors.”