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It ain't broke...
Page 9
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"What on earth is going on in Vosa?" asks Brian Weatherley, casting a deeply sceptical eye over suggestions of privatisation and outsourcing.
Question: What's Vosa's current 'mission statement'? To deliver world-class LGV enforcement? To run a cost-effective operation within the budget handed down to it by the DfT? Or to prepare the way for privatisation and outsourcing?
Within its latest annual report and accounts it lists as one of its business objectives: "...to raise the compliance of the road haulage industry..." It also cites plans to improve enforcement effectiveness through increased targeting of offenders, making full use of Power to Stop, ANPR and improved intelligence data".
But what does that mean? More examiners? More roadside checks? More operator visits? More high-tech enforcement sites? And, the bottom line, more investment? The report contains plenty of fine words, but fine words won't get rid of cowboy operators any more than they'll butter parsnips.
Is privatisation the way to deliver a better service, especially when ff comes to annual testing? No. Who says so? Me, and many others. So why is Vosa spending time (and presumably public money) considering such a move? In 27 years watching this business I've yet to encounter more than a handful of operators who've questioned the fundamental principle of staterun annual LGV testing —or Vosa's core competence to deliver it.
Yes, there are grumbles about headlamp aim, roller brake testing and 'local difficulties' at particular test stations. But what most operators value above all else is Vosa's independence.
We already know franchised dealers struggle to achieve a 100% pass rate on the vehicles they submit for test. So why should they be any better than Vosa at doing the testing? And if you think annual test fees are expensive now, do you think they'd be any cheaper if testing was handled by dealers?
So what's to discuss? Vosa's annual testing program ain't broke, and it doesn't need fixing by the private sector.
"rve yet to encounter more than a handful of operators who've questioned the principle of state-nn LGV testing"