Clash over waste
Page 6
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THE FUTURE licensing of waste disposal vehicles of disagreement between the Freight Transport the Road Haulage Association. remains an area Association and While the FTA's council has agreed with many of the RHA's fundamental objections to Department of Transport proposals for a review of the operator licensing system (CM, October 27), it disagrees on plans to impose full 0-licensing on waste disposal contractors.
The DTp wants to introduce full, rather than restricted, 0licensing for waste disposal contractors in response to RHA pleading that they are often in competition with hire or reward hauliers. This follows a Transport Tribunal ruling.
But the ETA said in its response to the proposal: "Currently the decision as to whether a standard or restricted licence is necessary is based upon an evaluation of the type and activity involved to distinguish own account and hire or reward operations and taking into account the established precedents created over many years.
"There is no good reason for treating any specialised activity in a different way for, as in this instance, specifically defining the type of licence necessary.
"To do so suggests that the present distinctions do not work, which we do not accept, and implies that similar arbitrary decisions could be taken in other cases," it said.
The ETA added that it would be unfair for operators such as waste disposal contractors, which it believes are clearly in the own account sector, to be required to be bound by full 0licensing.
But the ETA has joined with the RHA in opposing nonspecific 0-licence discs. It believes that it will be impractical as operators would need to hold spare licence discs at each operating centre.
The ETA accepts that there is a case for an increase in 0licence fees, but it is unhappy about the plan to levy a fee on the unspecified margin of extra vehicles in a fleet.