FUTURE LEGISLATION
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Northern Ireland 0-licensing reform The Department of the Environment intends to amend the Northern Ireland 0-licensing system to mirror that of Great Britain. Changes include a system for restricted 0-licensing to apply to own-account carriage for the first time. As of this month, hire or reward operators will be entered onto the Operator Licensing Business System database and, from April 2011, ownaccount operators are expected to have to apply for an 0-licence.
Enforcement of motor insurance The Department for Transport (DfT) has published a consultation on plans to use the DVEA vehicles register and the Motor Insurance Database to warn, then penalise (fixed penalty of £100, immobilisation and eventually disposal) vehicle keepers who fail to hold valid insurance. Enabling legislation is already in place in the Road Safety Act 2006, and implementation is expected from autumn 2010 at the earliest.
The Motor Vehicles (International Circulation) (Amendment) Order 2010, 14 May 2010 and The Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) (Temporary Use in Great Britain) (Amendment) Regulations 2010,19 Apr112010 Introduces new European legislation on permitted cabotage operations and gives effect to a bilateral agreement between the UK and Turkey. This regulation limits hauliers to three cabotage operations in seven days of international carriage. VVithin the limit, cabotage operations can be carried out in any member state, but where entry into a member state is unladen, the haulier is limited to just one cabotage operation per member state within three days of unladen entry. Hauliers must produce evidence of international carriage and cabotage operations. The new rules come into force on 14 May 2010.
Operator Compliance Risk Score (OCRS) changes VOSA has confirmed that from 1 July 2010 it will extend the green band for traffic enforcement scores to include bands 0-3 (currently just band 0 is green and bands 1-3 are amber). At the same time, the red band for both traffic enforcement and roadworthiness scores will extend to include groups 8-10 (currently only bands 9 and 10 are red and band 8 is amber). VOSA is also developing graduated points in line with the graduated fixed penalty system, which is expected to be introduced in spring 2011.
Road safety compliance A CrfT consultation includes proposals to introduce: six penalty points for exceeding the speed limit by 20mph; make careless driving a fixed penalty offence (£60 with three points); the specification of retraining courses for drivers who have had their vocational licences revoked by a Traffic Commissioner; and the lowering of the blood-alcohol limit. Changes are expected this year.
0-licensing changes Harmonised licensing rules for international operators and transport managers will be introduced on 4 December 2011. Key changes are the introduction of a panEuropean database, merging of National and International Transport Manager CPCs and restrictions on part-time transport managers. These access to the occupation regulations will be introduced by 2012, and they include a requirement limiting the scope of transport managers representing more than one operation. They will not be able to work for more than four firms, and the total of vehicles must not exceed 50.
Sideguard test changes From I May 2010, VOSA is introducing stricter checks on sideguards at annual test. Importantly, there are a number of concessions for specialised vehicles such as those fitted with cranes and tankers.