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
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168 
Relying on OCRS data when Looking for hauliers to use is a flawed idea
Page 20
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
I'M WRITING to you in relation to the Operator Compliance Risk Score (OCRS) (Customers demand to see OCRS figures' CM 18 September).
I'm a committee member of the Northern Region of the Confederation of Passenger Transport, which represents bus and coach companies.
Over the past 12 months, we've been approached by members in Yorkshire, who were having a similar same problem. North Yorkshire County Council wanted to insert a condition in contracts saying that operators had to produce their OCRS records. Since these records are known to be inaccurate, both by Vosa and the operators, concerns were raised that OCRS was being used in a way they were never designed for, and this data was been given to council officials who didn't understand what they were looking at. Naturally, operators feared they could be excluded from council contracts over merely headlamp aim.
At a seminar, I had the chance to raise this with Kevin Rooney, head of passenger services from Vosa. His reaction was this data is not to be used for this purpose, and a meeting was arranged in North Yorkshire in which Rooney attended. As I understand it, this condition was dropped.
It is understandable customers want to know the operators they employ are safe, but to base decisions on OCRS data, which may or may not be accurate, is going to be problematic.
Ian Ashman Committee member
Northern Region of the Confederation of Passenger Transport