Jade Smith attends the Peterborough FTA’s Transport Manager 2017 conference, which took place on October 18 at the Holiday Inn Peterborough West
James Hookham, Deputy Chief Executive of the Freight Transport Association (FTA), kick-started the event with a welcome speech, followed by a legislative round-up and technical update highlighting the main topics on the horizon that Transport Managers (TM) need to be aware of to ensure the safety, compliance and efficiency of their organisations.
“One obvious omission from the programme today is Brexit,” James said during his welcome. “We are certainly on the case, but it’s all a little speculative – we’re not quite certain what way it will go. So we have decided to focus on the issues we are definite about.”
A view from the Traffic Commissioner
Richard Turfitt, Senior Traffic Commissioner for the East of England, was the conference’s keynote speaker. He wanted attendees to understand his priorities for the year ahead and ensure TMs avoid non-compliance from the latest action taken on operators at public inquiries.
“The role of TM, whether statutory or voluntary, is key to most operators managing their safety and compliance,” Richard began. “Traffic Commissioners recognise the value of operators and TMs who want to get things right.
“We are fighting the good fight on your behalf and trying to reduce the burden on the good operator by focusing on the bad operators.
“I don’t want to put an end to a transport business. I want to ensure safety and to help operators get it right. I know that no-one in this room intends to be at Public Inquiry (PI). The best way of a making sure you don’t go to PI is to be fully equipped by keeping on top of changes.
“I’ll say to you what I say to most TMs that end up before me at PI: when it comes to it, I consider all of you with a Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC) to be better qualified than me.
If I’m able to spot things and the TM isn’t, there’s something wrong.[wlm_nonmember][…]
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“My four headings are Plan: what do you need to do to meet the operator licence requirements? Implement: don’t just have a set of health and safety documents, for example, you need to actually use them. Check: ensure your standards are right. Report: notify me of any changes. You have 28 days to notify me of changes – don’t just hit me at the end of the five year period.
“Don’t trust people – manage your systems. There is room for trust in the operator licensing system, it’s the trust I place in the TM and what I trust them to do is manage.”
Closing, Richard said: “A TM must be an employee or have a contract, physically attend the premises and be known to the drivers.”
DVSA – enforcement priorities and roadside stops
Next up was Phil Lapczuck from the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) who shared the priorities when it comes to enforcement and targeting. Attendees discovered the latest common issues the DVSA is encountering at the roadside, the processes and outcomes, and how drivers can be prepared in the event of a roadside stop.
Phil spoke about the DVSA Earned Recognition for vehicle operators, a new way for operators to prove they meet driver and vehicle standards. Operators regularly share performance information with DVSA and in return their vehicles are less likely to be stopped for inspections. It’s a voluntary scheme that’s designed to work for operators of all sizes.
He explained: “You need to have IT systems for vehicle maintenance and drivers’ hours. These will monitor if you’re meeting a set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
“Every four weeks, these systems will tell the DVSA if you’ve missed any of the KPIs by a set amount. If this happens, we will work with you to fix the issue.”
Dispelling some myths about the DVSA Earned Recognition, Phil said: “We’re not going to have direct access to your data. We are only interested in the exceptions and with the mechanisms we have in place, there will not be many.
“We won’t take action on what we find that doesn’t meet the KPIs – this is a partnership so we will work together on this. Some things go wrong; it’s about being able to put them right.”
Phil moved on to talk about historical offences: “At the moment we can issue fixed penalties for an offence that is committed on that day, which includes weekly rest. The legislation is going through parliament at the end of this year to enable fixed penalties to be issued for historical drivers hours offences committed during the last 28 days.
“At the moment each examiner can only issue three fixed penalties. That will increase to five per examiner. I urge you to make sure your systems are in place and your tachograph systems are working, so you don’t get caught out.”
Preventing vehicle use in terrorism activity
After a short coffee break, James Kenny-Levick from the national Counter Terrorism Policing Headquarters, spoke about the recent increase in vehicles being used as terrorist weapons. He said there is now a real need for TMs to do everything they can to safeguard their vehicles from a potential terrorist threat, explaining the pattern of attacks using vehicles, the best practice advice for keeping drivers and vehicles safe and the danger signs to look for.
The current UK counter terrorism strategy (CONTEST) is split into four ‘Ps’: Pursue – to stop terrorist attacks; Prevent – to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism; Protect – to strengthen our protection against a terrorist attack; and Prepare – to mitigate the impact of a terrorist attack. Pursue and Prevent aim to reduce threats, while Protect and Prepare reduce vulnerability.
“The idea of using a vehicle as a weapon is not a new one: being used as a battering ram, mowing people down and delivering a bomb,” James explained. “We are lucky in this country that semi-automatic weapons are hard to come by. You only have to look at a few weeks ago in Las Vegas to see what can happen in a country that pointedly refuses to deal with the problem they have with weapons.
“This vehicle as a weapon phenomenon is here to stay, so we need to work together to try and stop it.
“Post the Nice and Berlin attacks we had a lot of people from the Department of Transport come to us asking how we can stop this and what to do. There are a lot of options: technology, awareness, barrier asset, armed police – a lot of these options are great, but they have to be at the right place at the right time.
“What we need to concentrate on is making sure the awareness of the threat pervades all the way down, so that each individual driver knows what they have to do to try and prevent anyone taking their vehicle. General security is important – do they talk to anyone about where they are going to be, where they are going to park – that general awareness of their personal security is important.
“The white van that was driving down the Promenade des Anglais in Nice and mowing people down – just for a moment picture your company’s logo on that vehicle. Imagine what the significant economic and reputational impact would be on your business.
“We have various barrier options to deal with ramming. The barriers on Westminster Bridge saved the lives of roughly 170 people during the attack as the vehicle had to be manoeuvred around it.
“There’s a lot of guidance out there. We recommend that you go to the National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO) website which is a one-stop-shop of advice on a range of subjects such as advice to managers to improve security.
“The DfT guidance for buses and coaches is also being updated to include using a vehicle as a weapon and will contain guidance for drivers.”
Visit the NaCTSO website here: https://bit.ly/NaCTSO
City centre truck restrictions
Natalie Chapman, FTA Head of Policy London, spoke next about how over the next three years a series of blanket restrictions will come into force in UK cities for HGVs and vans, with a significant amount also affecting buses and coaches. With retrofitting of existing vehicles unlikely to be an option for a lot operators, TMs need to be prepared for what is ahead, so the procurement of future fleets can be planned.
The session set out details of around 25 cities expected to introduce charges on pre-Euro 6 HGVs and vans between the start of 2019 and the end of 2020, and the London Direct Vision Standard that may see more than half the HGVs that currently visit London banned completely by 2020.
Manchester, Bristol, Coventry, Bath, Oxford and Newcastle are among the cities that are in the running to have a Clean Air Zone (CAZ) that applies to buses and coaches.
“You need to look at your normal fleet replacement cycles and business patterns and work on the basis of working in the locations that are involved to work out the potential impact,” Natalie said. “Once you have this information, you can estimate the effect of potential responses.
“Where you are affected, the main option are to procure a compliant fleet early and putting in place any leasing arrangements as early as possible. In areas you visit rarely, see if paying the daily charge is feasible. Some areas could be subcontracted out to a compliant operator.
“Most of these areas you should be looking at now, especially those coming into effect in 2019 and 2020.”
With Iveco as the conference’s headline sponsor, Martin Flach, Director of Alternative Fuels at Iveco, provided the perspective of the manufacturers to proposed city centre restrictions on air quality. He gave an update on alternative fuel vehicles and the demands for Euro 6 trucks to meet the Government’s proposed air quality bill.
“First of all, don’t panic,” Martin began. “There are a lot of changes happening, but they’re all quite addressable. Just plan ahead and don’t wait until 2020 to make the changes.
“Oxford has already said it will be aiming towards implementing a zero emission zone, which looks like the direction a lot of other areas will go. The diesel scandals haven’t done us any favours, but diesel has been a very good fuel over the years, with Euro 6 vehicles being very clean.
“If we’re going to do anything we have to realise that diesel has a great energy density, it’s practical to transport and it’s readily available. Any alternatives have to be as good for long distance travel, large volume transport and for high payloads. Diesel does produce particulates – I can never call a diesel vehicle emission-free.
“The alternative has to be as efficient as diesel in terms of cost of ownership, reliability, safety and payload. It needs a low environmental impact and a good distribution network. There isn’t really one answer that will tick all the boxes and work in every application.
“Hydrogen has a problem with energy density so it can only be used on short distance work. Electric is also only suitable for short distance. Biodiesel is good in terms of carbon dioxide emissions, but for particulates and NOx it’s similar to fossil diesel. Hybrids offer a 25% fuel saving, but at the moment they have around a 16-year payback as the additional cost to the vehicle is so high.
“Plug-in hybrids or range-extending electrics are looking interesting – they can provide zero-emission travel in the city and also have a low emission engine to run outside of the city. Liquid natural gas vehicles are great in the urban environment, regional and long distance. The list of options available to the industry is steadily growing.”
Apprenticeships and skills
Following lunch there was an interactive session which incorporated delegate participation, where attendees had the opportunity to vote on what they thought was the right answer to common operational and compliance questions.
Immediately after this was Sally Gilson, Head of Skills Campaigns at the FTA, who spoke about how the Government is now funding LGV apprenticeships, among others, so the industry has a route to train new or existing staff. She outlined the process for apprenticeship levy payers and non-levy payers, including a detailed ‘how to’ guide in setting up an apprenticeship programme.
Employers with a pay bill over £3million each year must pay the apprenticeship levy which is set at 0.5% of their paybill. Each employer will receive an allowance of £15,000 to offset against their levy.
Levy-paying employers can now create an account on the apprenticeship service to receive levy funds to spend on apprenticeships, manage apprentices and pay the training provider.
Non-levy paying employers will share the cost of training and assessing their apprentices with the Government. From May 2017, those employers will pay 10% towards to the cost of apprenticeship training and the Government will pay the rest (90%), up to the funding band maximum.
Among the apprenticeships relevant to the bus and coach industry, the Heavy Vehicle and Maintenance Technician apprenticeship has been approved and has £18,000 funding, while the Passenger Transport Driver and Passenger Transport Operations Manager apprenticeships are currently awaiting approval.
Sally outlined other apprentice options: “Other than drivers and engineers, there are apprenticeships in customer services, human resources, information technology and accountantacy.
“Apprenticeships can be for all age groups, not just 16-19. This could be a good option for people returning to work or wanting a career change. It doesn’t have to be called an ‘apprenticeship’, it can be a ‘training programme’ instead – it will still be funded.
“Alternatively, existing staff members can be trained up to move departments or gain qualifications through this system.
“Every apprentice has to do at least 20% training that is undertaken outside of the everyday working environment. Any driver training, for example, has to be done separately from their day job. One day a week can be dedicated to training, one week out of five or even the first three months out of the year.
“This training can involve lectures, shadowing, industry visits, webinars, attending meetings – even a conference like today.
“Where do we find these apprentices? Look within your own organisation – you can upskill someone who would like to gain a qualification. Have a relationship with your local job centre so you can be in their mind when they get a suitable individual seeking work. We need to attract more young people into the industry and the best way to do this is to go into schools and colleges. Get your name out there!”
Vehicle cameras and data protection
The conference concluded with Es Shepherd, Head of Member Advice at the FTA, explaining the legal issues operators have to consider before installing in-cab technology for monitoring driver performance and guarding against bogus insurance claims. He also outlined the data protection implications and what the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will mean for operators when it comes into force in May 2018.
This session investigated the use of this technology, including the legal implications, fitment, and the usage and storage of data being gathered.
Es explained the difference between a camera and a driver monitor: “A camera is a device that will record in one direction only – either facing inwards of outwards. A driver monitor films in two directions at a time and feeds to a single source. Some driver monitors can be split with two separate cameras, but it is still a driver monitor if it feeds to a single source.
“From the DVSA’s point-of-view a driver monitor can be installed in the swept area of a windscreen, provided it doesn’t restrict the driver’s view. A camera is not an accepted piece of equipment though – it can only be installed if it doesn’t intrude into the swept area more than 40mm as far as the driver’s sightline is concerned. This can be a problem if multiple drivers use the same vehicle, as their sightline may differ.”
Es described the GDPR as “the Data Protection Act’s (DPA) bigger brother.” It will replace the current DPA and requires organisations involved in the collection, storage and use of data to review their methods and liabilities.
“The GDPR will apply in the UK from May 25, 2018,” he said. “The principles will be the same – the lawful processing is still key. Some organisations will need to appoint a data protection officer and those with over 250 employees will have additional record-keeping obligations.
“Failing to adhering to the requirements of GDPR may result in fines up to €20,000,000 or 4% of global turnover, whichever is higher. At the moment it is £500,000.
“Under GDPR there is more emphasis on freely given consent. Operators will have to prove the consent was freely given – it cannot be, for example, incorporated with other documents. Consent has to be more specific, informed and unambiguous. With driver licence checks, there is a lawful reason for an employer to have that information, so consent is not needed.
“There are also new rights for data subjects, i.e. employees. This includes the right to be informed, access, rectification, erasure and to restrict processing.”[/wlm_ismember]
