DOT to review regulation
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• The Government is reviewing how its agencies regulate the road haulage industry and is expected to consider changes to the 0-licensing system.
The Driver Vehicle Operator study is to examine the role of Vehicle Inspectorate, Traffic Area Offices and DVIA, focusing on their use of information technology.
Coming hot on the heels of the VI's new computer system, the study is also likely to assess how computerisation can be used to improve the efficiency of these organisations.
The Freight Transport Association's proposal to replace the Traffic Area Network with a central office is bound to come under scrutiny. The FTA proposes that operators should be allowed to phone in vehicle details, in a similar way to putting a car on an insurance policy.
Senior Traffic Commissioner Michael Betts has said that he wants to retain some sort of disc to be displayed on the windscreen.
One option is to give operators a book of blank 0-licences and allow them to fill in vehicle details themselves, once they have logged them with the central computer.
The study, which will take several months, will examine the performance of the VI's computerised network.