The Traffic Commissioners’ annual report highlights a number of improvements in the delivery of their role but also that improvements are still required on both sides of the table
The Traffic Commissioners have published their annual report for Great Britain for the year to 31 March 2024. In his foreword to the report, Senior Traffic Commissioner (STC) Richard Turfitt notes that in July 2023, for the first time, Ministers issued statutory guidance to the STC under section 4D of the Public Passenger Vehicles Act 1981 which acknowledged the essential work of traffic commissioners in championing safe, fair, and reliable passenger and goods transport. “The Minister’s letter provided useful confirmation that we are primarily a road safety tribunal. We have an important deterrent role around bus punctuality,” he said, “but it falls to others to concentrate on the passenger experience.”
Looking at the role of the Traffic Commissioners, Richard says the Office of the Traffic Commissioner (OTC) has delivered during the period short- and medium-term plans for the recovery and improvement of services, and is addressing the issues arising from the reorganisation of staff deployed who support the Office’s statutory functions.
He highlighted the skills of both staff of the OTC and the Commissioners. “It would be entirely wrong to overlook the combination of legal and practical knowledge, which is vital to the provision of licensing services and an effective regulatory tribunal,” he said. “Increasingly, Commissioners must be expert in understanding the human factors involved in safety management, with the aim of fair and effective decision making. This will be integral to the training to be delivered to new colleagues in the coming year.”
Statistical view
The stats pertaining to the remit of the Commissioners are impressive. Their role, amongst other things, oversees the movement of some 175 billion tonne-kilometres of freight, and 81% of the total volume of domestic freight carried around the country, alongside 4 billion tonne-kilometres of international freight moved by UK registered vehicles. There were some 3.7 billion local bus service passenger journeys and 1.2 billion miles operated by local buses during the year, and the transport and storage sectors as a whole employ some 1.62 million people.
A total of 66,821 valid goods vehicle operator licences were held, with 373,318 goods vehicles authorised, vastly outweighing the 5,451 valid PSV operator licences with 88,664 vehicles authorised between them. 11,383 operator licence applications and variations were determined during the year, and 11,332 local bus registrations processed. In addition, 1,283 public inquiries were determined, 156 preliminary hearings held, 41 Senior Team Leader (STL) interviews held and 15,584 vocational driver cases closed.
Strategic objectives
Progress has been made, the TCs say, towards the Traffic Commissioner Strategic Objectives 2023-25, to deliver a modern and effective operator licensing regime that ensures operators are fit to hold a licence whilst minimising the regulatory burden on the compliant, and to promote and develop a safe road transport industry, which delivers compliance, fair competition and protects the environment.
[…]
By subscribing you will benefit from:
- Operator & Supplier Profiles
- Face-to-Face Interviews
- Lastest News
- Test Drives and Reviews
- Legal Updates
- Route Focus
- Industry Insider Opinions
- Passenger Perspective
- Vehicle Launches
- and much more!
