FTA welcomes proposed changes to traffic commissioner guidance 19 October 2015

The Freight Transport Association (FTA) has welcomed proposed changes to the senior traffic commissioner’s statutory guidance, saying these will better reflect the modern-day logistics operation.

FTA has been working with the commissioners to investigate how the regulator’s approach should change towards centrally managed operations – large dispersed fleets where compliance is managed on a national basis.

This culminated in an FTA member workshop with the senior traffic commissioner last year.

“The current operator licensing legislation fits a model where a haulage company has a yard with some trucks in it, and an office with a person called a transport manager who has a filing cabinet,” says James Firth, FTA’s head of licensing policy and compliance information.

“But the further a logistics operation moves away from that model – and the more sophisticated it becomes – the less straightforward it is for that operator to prove their compliance with the law as it is written.”

The amendments place a greater emphasis on transport managers managing systems which ensure compliance, rather than carrying out specific tasks themselves.

For the first time, the draft documents also discuss changes of approach when operators are administrating operator licence changes while subject to the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (known as TUPE).

Firth adds: “This has been a great example of the regulators working with industry to develop a better, more proportionate regulatory process.”

Author
Laura Cork

Related Companies
Freight Transport Association Ltd

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