The Freight Transport Association has welcomed the Department for Transport’s modification of the operator licensing regulations, which aim to avoid imposing unnecessary burdens on industry.
Harmonised licensing rules for international operators and transport managers will be introduced on 4 December 2011. Key changes are the introduction of a pan-European database, merging of national and international transport manager CPCs, and restrictions on part-time transport managers.
James Firth, FTA’s head of road freight and enforcement policy, said: “Broadly speaking these changes export GB best practice to the rest of Europe, which is good news for most of our operators who won’t see any real changes and which will hopefully up the standards in the rest of Europe. The DfT deserves credit for listening to industry and being pragmatic enough to minimise the potential burden of wholesale changes to our industry.
Hire and reward operators of certain small vehicle and trailer combinations will notice changes to their O-licence obligations. This will also affect operators using non-employed consultant transport managers and individuals in the process of obtaining transport manager CPCs or alternative qualifications or those with grandfather rights.
