1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148 
Taking stock of 2008
Page 16
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
It was all-change for the Traffic Commissioners last year. They had to adjust to life with a centralised operation in Leeds, there were new faces and an admission that a tack of resources could not maintain previous high standards.
Words: Christopher Walton THE 2007/8 TRAFFIC Commissioners' Annual Reports put the role of the transport manager under scrutiny, calling for greater responsibility among operators when appointing the role. However, it also acknowledged that Government resources were being stretched, and that the number of public A Aitken: "Deeply enquiries could have been higher. concerned'.
South-Eastern and Metropolitan Traffic Area (SEMTA) SEMTA Traffic Commissioner (TC) Philip Brown believed that the lack of human resources available for Vosa enforcement was a contributing factor to the fall in the number of operators called to a public enquiry (PI). A Brown: there are He also believed that the lack of not enough Pis incentive for Vosa staff to pursue a case to a PI, particularly based on assessments made through the Operator Compliance Risk Score (OCRS), was another contributing factor. He hoped for further developments in the enforcement process to improve the number of non-compliant operators being detected.
Eastern Traffic Area Toni Macartney, the outgoing Acting Commissioner, admitted that the gap between appointing a permanent TC for the largest and most heavily loaded traffic area in the country -may well have saved the Department for Transport (DfT) a small amount of money" hut during his 12-month reign, he was unable to maintain the high standards set by his predecessor Geoffrey Simms, Macartney was left in charge of the Eastern and North-Eastern Traffic Are as, a region running from Northumberland to Essex, up until Richard Turfitt became TC for the Eastern Traffic Area on 1 May 2008.
North-Eastern Traffic Area Macartney conceded that the strain of his dual role had taken him out of the region, but it had allowed him to see if there had been an increase in the consistency in submissions — a reform promised by licensing centralisation in Leeds. Decisions made by himself and by his staff had exceeded the target of 85% of applications determined within nine weeks.
North-Western Traffic Area TC Beverley Bell continued to be vexed in public enquiries by the role of nominated transport managers of whom, she says, there are far too many who simply do not know what is expected of them. Bell urged North-West operators to send transport managers on training courses to reduce the number appearing at a PI.
She urged operators to ensure proper training for drivers before letting them loose behind the wheel. With, in her opinion, too many professional drivers taking control of vehicles relying solely on vocational entitlement, she welcomed this year's introduction of the Driver CPC as it will be "worth every penny". West Midlands Traffic Area and Welsh Traffic Area TC Nick Jones urged all operators to recognise the importance of the transport manager's role, as the significant proportion of operators getting in trouble did so because they have restricted licences and no transport manager.
In Wales, Jones said the merger of the region with the West Midlands had led to lower regulation standards in the principality, the result of which was operators acting in an unfair competitive position. He will continue to press for a dedicated commissioner for Wales.
Western Traffic Area TC Sarah Bell insisted that there was a "light at the end of the tunnel" for the many teething problems that had been encountered during the transition to centralising licensing in Leeds and welcomed the quality of case submissions during the period.
She added that the increased number of operators attending a PI was due to targeted enforcement by Vosa and the Regional Intelligence Unit being fully staffed.
Scottish Traffic Area TC Joan Aitken said she was "deeply concerned" about the integrity of transport managers and believed there was "growing and widespread abuse of transport manager nomination-. She said that operators needed to be aware that licences were not transferable and cannot be bought and sold. The increased incidence of such activity had led to innocent putative operators being the victims of dishonest individuals. She urged that scrutinising transport manager appointments would -secure fair competition". in