Sir Peter takes on the new role of chair of the London Freight Enforcement Partnership, which is being tasked with building on the work of TfL (Transport for London) and agencies including the Industrial HGV Task Force (now celebrating its second anniversary) and Commercial Vehicle Units.
It will further tackle unsafe HGVs, and promises to take non-compliant, unsafe commercial vehicles, drivers and their operators off the roads.
The partnership, which involves TfL, DVSA (Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency), the Metropolitan Police Service and the City of London Police, will focus on co-ordinating intelligence to improve the agencies’ enforcement work.
It is being resourced with more than 90 DVSA and police officers plus a team of analysts, and will have a range of powers to address infringements, particularly by persistent offenders.
“The lessons learned from our successful Industrial HGV Task Force have been adopted by the new partnership, which will make our streets even safer for all road users and help build a fairer industry for all freight operators,” states Leon Daniels, TfL’s managing director of Surface Transport.
“Working in a partnership, with shared expertise and intelligence will help deliver even greater enforcement against rogue and unsafe freight operators who continue to not comply with the law and with the regulations,” comments Sir Peter.
And London and South East traffic commissioner Nick Denton adds: “I have seen the value of the Industrial HGV Task Force first hand in the many licence holders who have been brought to my attention due to their failure to meet basic vehicle and driver safety standards.
“I therefore welcome the formation of this new enforcement partnership, which ... shares two of the key objectives of the traffic commissioners – to reduce the burden on compliant operators and deal with those who pose the greatest risk to road safety.”
Transport industry bodies such as the FTA (Freight Transport Association) have also given the formation of the new multi-disciplinary enforcement agency the thumbs up.
“Increased enforcement using the intelligent, targeted approach taken in London is the right way to go, as it allows us to prevent the small minority of operators who do not seek to follow the rules from using the roads,” comments Christopher Snelling, FTA head of national and regional policy.
Since October 2013, more than 6,030 vehicles have been targeted and stopped, 87 vehicles seized, 4,500 prosecutions progressed through and 2,134 fixed penalty notices issued.
Offences include: lack of insurance; driving without the correct licence; unsafe tyres; vehicles not equipped with cycle safeguards; and not accurately recording driver hours.