Rothera Dowson SolicitorsTransport Law NewsletterJuly 2014

Rothera Dowson Solicitors2 Kayes WalkThe Lace MarketNottinghamNG1 1PZ

Tel: 0115 9100 600Fax: 0115 9100 800Email: info@keepmeontheroad.co.ukTwitter: @keepmeontheroad

TCs: Suspension for Mobile Phone Offences

L-R Robert Reid, Anton Balkitis and Lucy Whitaker

The Traffic Commissioners and the DVLA are discussing plans to suspend HGV drivers’ licences for using a mobile phone behind the wheel – after their first offence.

Currently, the licensing authority informs the Office of the Traffic Commissioner (OTC) when a driver with nine or more penalty points applies to renew their licence or regain it following disqualification.

But discussions between the DVLA and the OTC include writing to a driver after a first offence informing them that a second could result in them appearing before a TC.

However, it is understood that the TCs want to go even further and automatically suspend a licence for 21 days for a first offence, and 42 on a second offence – if it was committed in a HGV.

They also want a separate offence created for using a mobile device in a commercial vehicle, along with a separate endorsement code.

An OTC spokesman says: “Vocational driver cases are already automatically referred to traffic commissioners by the DVLA for endorsable offences and in other circumstances set out by the Road Traffic Act and in the Senior Traffic Commissioner's Statutory Document on Vocational Driver Conduct.

“Improvements to these referrals are being considered but this is an on-going piece of work. Traffic commissioners expect the enhancements to enable better targeting of the serially and seriously non-compliant drivers of HGVs and PSVs and will inform the industry when the review has been completed.”

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The Office of the Traffic Commissioner (OTC) has confirmed it is carrying out another review of operators that failed to return an important questionnaire about transport managers.

Legislation introduced three years ago required nominated transport managers and operators holding a standard licence to complete and return the survey.

The results were used by the Department for Transport to contribute towards a pan-European database and meant transport managers’ competency could be audited.

In 2013 the OTC said almost 10% of standard national and international licence holders had failed to return the questionnaire.

It’s now just a handful of weeks until the deadline for the Driver CPC and anyone who has yet to begin the training is urged to start immediately.

The Freight Transport Association (FTA) says there is still time to get it done in time for the 10 September final date but it is urging operators that they should expect no exemptions or last minute reprieves from the DVSA or the traffic commissioners.

According to DVSA figures, at the beginning of May approximately 750,000 HGV and PCV drivers were active on its driver training database, with an excess of 10,000 drivers coming onto the system every month.

At the beginning of 2014, the FTA saw an increase in the rate drivers registered for training, with almost 15,000 new drivers, who decided it was time to make a start on Driver CPC, registering in the month of February alone.

The TCs have already started to come down hard on those who have failed to take the Driver CPC seriously.

North East TC Kevin Rooney recently told a conference that a transport manager had lost his repute indefinitely after failing to ensure his drivers had started the training. The operator’s licence has also been curtailed.

A spokesman says 532 licences have already been revoked as a result of a failure to respond, but the OTC has not given up on targeting the remainder:

“In respect of the cases that did not lead to revocation, licences were either surrendered, granted a period of grace to appoint a suitably qualified transport manager or subject to other action, including satisfying the legislation through the appointment of a replacement transport manager and completion of the necessary paperwork,” says the spokesman.

“A further review is now underway by the [OTC] to refer cases that have not yet been resolved to the relevant traffic commissioners.”

For more information contact Anton Balkitis or Lucy Whitaker on 0115 9100 600.

Three men have been jailed after targeting lorries parked around the M25 and stealing their loads.

Tommy Clampin and Dave Steingold were sentenced to five years in jail after being found guilty of conspiracy to steal from HGVs following an eight week trial.

Chelmsford crown court heard how the men operated out of a Grays site and targeted lorries parked at services stations around the orbital motorway using their own HGV.

Goods stolen between June and October 2012, after they cut open curtainsiders included perfume, trainers and cigarette papers.

A third man, Richard Chapman, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing but a warrant for his arrest was issued on 22 May after he disappeared before his sentencing.

According to Essex police, Chapman later attended Chelmsford police station and was sentenced to two years and nine months for his part in the crime.

Three Men Jailed for Lorry Load Theft

Driver CPC -Deadline Looming

Operators to Respond to The OTC Questionnaire

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Transport managers in companies with restricted licences “have no idea how legally vulnerable they could be”, according to tachograph analysts Novadata.

The company said holders of a restricted licence have all the same responsibilities and undertakings to fulfil as full licence holders, yet many have no training at all.

Novadata’s warning comes after the DVSA says they have seen a number of recent cases at public inquiries where operators have been running digital tachographs, but with no idea how to use them.

Novadata says it is ironic that a restricted licence holder could be running a larger fleet than a full O-licence holder, but have no transport management training at all.

“The legal penalties for not fulfilling the undertakings of a restricted operator licence are potentially just as serious as they would be for the holder of a full operator licence, yet many have no training at all, which puts them in a highly vulnerable position,” says Novadata chairman Derek Broomfield.

He adds that it isn’t only the company that is forced to answer for any failings that arise either:

“We have seen cases of individual transport managers having to defend themselves in a Public Inquiry. In an organisation in which transport is not the core activity, the function of transport manager is often carried out by the proprietor or added on to the job description of a manager with completely unrelated experience. Many have no idea how legally vulnerable they could be.”

In the company’s favour, director Alasdair Adam said he had undertaken O-licence training along with another member of staff who was responsible for checking driver records.

In addition, the company’s drivers had completed their Driver CPC training and drivers’ records were now being collected and analysed. It had also employed a consultant to introduce new systems.

TC Denton considered the positive and negative aspects of the case and concluded regulatory action was still proportionate.

A Brighton company has been suspended from transporting goods for 28 days after a public inquiry heard of a raft of safety issues, including a vehicle being used without a valid MOT.

Fire and Ice Productions in Horley appeared before traffic commissioner Nick Denton after a DVSA investigation found that it had failed to carry out routine inspections of vehicles; did not plan safety inspections in advance; did not have a system for drivers to report vehicle defects and failed to analyse driver records to ensure they were working legally.

One vehicle’s MOT had expired in August 2013 but a vehicle examiner found evidence that it had been used on three separate occasions since that time, clocking up 310 miles.

From 1 October the paper tax disc will be scrapped as the system moves online.

In addition, the tax will no longer be transferred with the vehicle when it is sold; instead, new owners must apply for new vehicle tax before being allowed to get behind the wheel.

You can apply online to tax your vehicle using your 16-digit reference number from your tax reminder (V11) form or the 11-digit reference number from the log book (V5C).

A refund on any full calendar months left on the tax will be available to anyone selling their vehicle and DVLA says it must be notified that it has been sold, scrapped, exported or stolen.

In the past we have picked up complaints from drivers who are uncomfortable using vehicles if tax discs are not on display in cab windows, so this development should remove uncertainty.

The government has also announced that it will scrap the paper counterpart to the driving licence by the middle of next year.

The tax status of any vehicle can be checked online at: www.gov.uk/check-vehicle-tax

Warning for Restricted O-Licence Holders

Company Suspended Over Safety Breach

Abolition of Paper Tax Disc

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Foreign truckers who drive tired could be subject to ‘historical’ on-the-spot fines under proposals now being consulted on.

All commercial vehicle drivers who drive for longer than the law allows risk being fined, but penalising HGV drivers without a valid UK home address is often very difficult.

The Department for Transport now wants to give enforcement officers the power to fine drivers at the roadside, rather than take them to court.

Officers would also be able to issue penalties up to 28 days after an offence and the plans include enforcing the HGV road user levy for similar periods too.

“Tired drivers are more prone to accidents, which is why there are limits on the number of hours hauliers can drive,” says roads minister Stephen Hammond.

“Sadly a selfish minority ignore this, putting others’ road safety at risk. The option to issue a fine for this offence would provide an effective weapon in the fight against irresponsible driving by both foreign and UK drivers.

“This and the fact we introduced the new HGV levy earlier this year shows we are determined to ensure UK drivers and their foreign competitors are on a level playing field.”

Proposals to enable historical drivers’ hours offences to be enforced would bring the UK in line with other EU member states.

The consultation, which runs until 11 August, can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/neoy5fx

Engineering services firm TDC (Aberdeen) has been fined £5,000 for safety failings after one of its drivers fell from the trailer bed of a lorry while securing a load at its premises and sustained head injuries.

Police in Tayside are continuing to investigate two incidents on the A90 near Tealing on 27 May when objects were thrown at supermarket lorries, cracking the windscreens but causing no injuries.

Fraudulent ‘slam-ons’ – road traffic accidents deliberately caused in order to claim for whiplash compensation – increased by 51% last year, according to insurer Aviva.

Cambridgeshire police says there were 244 collisions on the county’s stretch of the A14 in the first five months of 2014. The figures were released as the consultation into the £1.5bn upgrade plans ended.

Rothera Dowson’s online blog is updated weekly with news and views from the transport world. Our aim is to help you preserve your O-licence, as well as providing advice about keeping on the right side of the law. Go to: www.keepmeontheroad.co.uk/blog

News in Brief Roadside Fines for Drivers’ Hours Offences

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