A LICENCE TO CHANGE
Page 5
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
ccording to the Elizabethan sage Richard Hooker: "Change is not made without inconvenience, even from worse to better." Nevertheless, some things need to be changed, and one that's long overdue for a good shakeup is the Operator Licensing system. In this world of instant information it's ridiculous that the only way a police officer or Traffic Examiner can check if a truck is being run by a properly licensed operator is to climb up and look for a small green paper disc stuck in the windscreen, And a missing disc doesn't mean he's found a cowboy. With a 30-clay period to notify the local Traffic Area Office of any 0-licence variation, including the addition of short or long-term vehicles, an operator could genuinely be waiting for a new disc in the post. And once the TAO issues another disc it could end up chasing the truck round the country from depot to depot. Given that paper chase, is it any wonder we can't get a definitive answer to the question of exactly how many unlicensed trucks are running on Britain's roads? What's needed is the rapid establishment of a centralised 0-licence database which operators could simply call whenever they want to add vehicles to their 0-licences. This database could also be accessed at the roadside by enforcement agencies 24-hours a day, so they'd know in a matter of minutes if a vehicle was being run by an unlicensed operator. Without such a data base, impounding—surely the ultimate sanction against cowboys—could be sidelined. Fortunately for law-abiding hauliers the Vehicle Inspectorate has already devel oped the perfect template for such a system with its Joint Enforcement Database Initiative (EDI) project, So with JEDI to lead the way, changing the 0licence system really isn't such an "inconvenienceTM. Surely, things can only get better.