Regulators launch revised strategy to deliver better services for commercial vehicle industries
Traffic Commissioners for Great Britain outline commitments on licensing services, case management, fair hearings and robust, evidence-based decision making.
The Traffic Commissioners for Great Britain have today (24 October 2019) published their strategic ambitions for the licensing and regulation of lorry, bus and coach operators and drivers.
The revised plan sets out commitments to raise standards and find effective solutions to the issues that are important to their stakeholders.
The commissioners will provide better services to operator licence holders, transport managers, professional drivers and others – delivering modern licensing and case management alongside fair hearings and robust and evidence-based decision making.
To achieve this, they aim to ensure:
- licence applications get a decision within 35 days, on average
- no licence applications are outstanding over six months
- all public inquiry cases are listed for a hearing within 12 weeks
The strategy also outlines the commissioners’ wider ambitions to:
- to investigate the feasibility of using virtual hearings
- analyse how the commercial vehicle industries are made up
- focus on those who do not have access to compliance information
- review and modernise how local bus punctuality and reliability is measured
- work to improve communication with their partners
Commenting on the refreshed strategy, the Senior Traffic Commissioner for Great Britain, Richard Turfitt, said:
“At a time when the industry is facing considerable uncertainty, it is appropriate to stress the continuity and the consistency which traffic commissioners deliver.
“Our strategic ambitions remain centred on the key functions of our work as TCs – to act as gatekeepers to the industries which operate commercial vehicles and remove those who present a risk to road safety and undermine responsible operators.
“We want to see better services for those we regulate and to find effective solutions to the issues that are important to our stakeholders.
“The agenda we have set is challenging and we will need to collaborate with partners and stakeholders in order to deliver it. We need formal assurances about the services which are provided to us and will continue to look for accountability on fee income and recruitment.”
The commissioners’ 2018/19 annual report to the Secretary of State is also published today and can be viewed here.