PROXY PARTNERS
Page 36
Page 37
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• Enterprising training companies are latching on to a change in the law which allows hauliers to employ part-time transport managers. They are offering to supply Certificate of Professional Competence holders as "proxy transport managers" to operators who need them for their 0-licences.
Even the Freight Transport Association plans to get in on the act, but some Licensing Authorities question if these arrangements meet the requirement for transport managers to have "continuous and effective" responsibility for the transport operation.
If a transport manager is wholly employed by the haulage firm he will be in a position to give continuous and effective cover, says North Eastern LA Fred Whalley. "But there is a big question whether somebody working for an outside firm would be able to meet these same demands," he adds.
The LAs meet next month to discuss the PTA's proposal: their backing would go a long way to getting the scheme off the starting blocks.
The LAs agree that the association cannot legally act as a CPC-holding transport manager for its members, but its individual employees might be able to do so, as long as they satisfied an LA that they could effectively do the job.
However, some private firms are already offering a proxy service. EP Training Services of Esher, Surrey employs four CPC holders.
During the past two months they have been acting as transport managers for six owner-drivers.
All of the drivers prepared for the CPC with EP but failed the exam. Unwilling to wait the three months for the next test to come around, they have started businesses, applying for 0-licences by nominating EP employees as their transport managers.
EP owner Eddie Pargeter believes this means the owner-driver is left to run his fledgling business more efficiently than if he or a family member had passed their CPC.
"It means that somebody will have effective control of the firm and not just of the title of transport manager. If things like tacho records and vehicle servicing are taken out of an owner-driver's hand it means he can concentrate on winning more business," says Pargeter.
He says his clients must draw up formal contracts with his staff to satisfy the legal requirement for transport managers to be employees of the 0-licence holder. "The word 'employed' is open to interpretation. The most important thing is that the transport manager has continuous and effective employment," he explains.
Pargeter's managers go in to an owner-driver's premises on average for half a day a week if they are to look after one truck; and about a day a week if they are responsible for up to six vehicles. Pargeter makes a point of making sure the CPC holder lives no further away than 50km from the client; any further, he says, would reduce control of the operation.
Taunton, Somerset-based training firm Friendberry agrees that such services can be extremely valuable as long as the nominated transport manager has the time and ability to check everything from load security to drivers' hours.
"These firms could be a big improvement on what's happening at the moment", says CPC lecturer Peter Maynard.
"For a long time the system has been open to people just employing somebody they know with a CPC, who has been given the title of transport manager but is not effectively doing anything to check the business," he says.
Whalley says that if a prospective 0-licence holder bids for a licence nominating a 'proxy" manager he will want detailed investigations on the nominee: "It's not a black and white situation," he says, 'you have to judge each case on its merits. If a transport manager is applying to work for more than one firm I ask him to submit details on how he will apportion his time, what duties there will be and how much he will be paid for them. The question of whether a transport manager is employed by a company or agency does not worry me," he adds. "So long as the person can show that he will discharge his duties regularly and on a continuous basis, it doesn't matter who he's being paid by."
Transport Advisory Services of Henley-on-Thames, Oxon says it has supplied 160 small operators with transport managers. It acts like a job agency with 35 self-empioyed CPC holders on its books throughout the UK.
One problem with a proxy is that a haulier risks losing his licence if its transport manager breaks the law. Under the regulations the 0-licence holder is still responsible for the actions of the manager.
And if a nominated transport manager leaves, the haulier could be stranded without a CPC holder. If the operator wanted a member of the company it was using to step in, the LA would have to be told and could reject the nominee. However, under the law, an 0-licence holder can have up to 18 months to find a replacement.
The RHA agrees that a proxy scheme could work, but director of operations Tim Inman believes "there is no substitute to having the hands-on approach with a CPC holder working on the site who might have a different attitude to somebody outside."
David Yoxall, who founded Transport Advisory Services, reports that most of the company's clients are owner-drivers. He stresses that none of the CPC holders he uses would act as a proxy transport manager for more than eight trucks. He also insists that transport managers live with 55km of any companies they work for.
One of Yoxall's clients is a Scottish driver who wants to start his own haulage business: he paid Yoxall £200 to handle his 0-licence application and supply a proxy transport manager.
0 by Juliet Parish