Source/Credit: Croner-i (August 2018)
Transport managers have been urged to keep their knowledge and skills up to date through refresher training.
Operators should regularly check what their transport manager is doing and arrange for refresher training either where it is needed or will it will simply be beneficial, the Traffic Commissioners for Great Britain recommend.
In their latest annual report (available at assets.publishing.service.gov.uk), the Traffic Commissioners remind operators that they need to make sure that transport managers are doing their job properly, as failure to do so could see permission to run vehicles withdrawn.
The report also highlights progress in reducing application processing times.
Between 2016/17 and 2017/18, the average time for a decision was cut from over 11 weeks to just over seven weeks. In addition, 90% of digital licence applications were granted within seven weeks against the published service standards provided, the report claims.
Operators and applicants who apply digitally should now benefit from time savings the Commissioners note, thanks to swifter correspondence and an intuitive application process designed to make sure that more complete information is provided.
To those who fail to keep vehicles properly maintained, the Commissioners’ message is that the industry has no place for them and that decisive action will be taken against those who do not meet their obligations.
A licence holder is entitled to assume that, when they bid for work, a competitor will not be able to get that contract as a result of cutting corners, especially where safety is concerned, the report emphasises.
In 2017/18, there were 971 hearings into businesses reported for safety or licensing breaches, it reveals.
Acknowledging that there does exist what it terms a “long under-performing tail” in the industry, the Commissioners say that the underlying causes are poor management and a failure to access proper guidance.
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