FUTURE LEGISLATION
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Forthcoming changes in the law in association with the Freight Transport Association Northern Ireland 0-licensing reform The Department of the Environment has introduced primary legislation to more closely mirror the British system, including the introduction of restricted licensing for own account carriage for the first time. Later this year, existing hire or reward operators will be entered onto the Operator Licensing Business System database and from April 2011 own account operators will have to apply for a restricted licence.
Enforcement of motor insurance The Department for Transport has published a consultation on plans to use the DVLA 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. 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.
Digital tachograph changes European legislation amends the technical specification of the digital tachograph. These include an increase in the number of company locks from 20 to 255, changes to the way in which driving and activity is recorded, and establishes common test specifications for printout paper in October 2011. To detect tampering, information from the motion sensor will be checked against vehicle data, and any discrepancies will be logged as faults from October 2012.
0-licensing changes Harmonised licensing ruies 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.