Chief among the changes are:
A streamlined process for direct transport manager replacements and additional nominations;
For the first time, a role description for transport managers and what they are expected to do;
A new approach to transport manager working hours;
Extended delegations so that traffic commissioner staff can take more decisions on behalf of the TCs;
Quicker decision making, communications and greater guidance for dealing with incomplete O licence applications;
Processes to take less serious cases out of public inquiry listings – meaning that tribunal resources are targeted only at the serially non compliant;
New guidance on driver conduct, including case studies that operators can use to train and educate employees.
“The changes to the statutory documents are designed to streamline processes, extend delegation to our staff and give better guidance so that decisions can be made more quickly,” states Mrs Bell.
“These changes will help to deliver a more efficient and effective licensing regime for compliant operators.”
And she adds that the objective throughout has been to meet the traffic commissioners’ strategic objectives of reducing the burden on compliant operators, targeting only those who put road safety at risk, and achieving more consistent outcomes when dealing with professional drivers’ conduct.
East of England traffic commissioner Richard Turfitt, who led the revisions to statutory documents 1-5 and 7-13, says: “Our strategic objectives set out how we want to modernise the operator licensing regime so that it helps the responsible operator.”
And he adds: “We also want operators and applicants to be able to help themselves and to improve the level of complete applications.”
“As with operators, we want to ensure regulatory action is focused on those in the industry who are not displaying the behaviours associated with professional, competent drivers,” says Wales and West Midlands traffic commissioner Nick Jones, who worked with stakeholders and led revisions to statutory document 6.
“The revised document gives comprehensive guidance on how traffic commissioners will deal with driver conduct cases,” he continues.
“We have also introduced case studies to provide practical examples of what action can be taken against drivers. This will benefit operators who are proactive in training and managing drivers who are found to be offending.”
The revised guidance take effect on 01 January 2016 and canbe found at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/senior-t...
The Senior Traffic Commissioner’s statutory documents were first introduced in December 2011 to coincide with the implementation of EU regulations.
The changes to statutory documents 1-5 and 7-13 were open to a consultation with stakeholders between 21 August and 16 October 2015.
Statutory document 6 was open to a formal, public consultation between 13 July and 07 September 2015.