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0 is for overhaul
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There are plans afoot to streamline the 0-licensing system.
Is the industry impressed? Emma Page finds out.
Since 2002 the TAN computer system has modernised the 0-licensing process.Now, half of all vehicle additions or deletions are proc.c.s,m,d online. But these changes have not sorted out the unwieldy regional structure of the system itself Small operators may only encounter the licensing authorities once every couple of years when they change a vehicle or need to pay a fee. But major players tell a different story: they have to manage the requirements of up to eight 0-licences, each with its own review clate.This can mean several interactions a week with different Traffic Area Offices, leading to disputes when inconsistencies emerge.
In a hid to cut red tape. the Department for Transport has come up with some radical ideas for st reit minting the licensing system.
Lead commissioners
The proposed revamp would reduce the administrative burden of having multiple traffic areas and introduce the concept of a 'lead Traffic Commissioner'. Operators would no longer need to hold a licence for each area: instead they would be allocated to a leadTC.
In most cases, operators would make a single application and receive a single decision covering each relevant traffic area: in effect ,this would be a 'virtual' single licence.
The lead TC would be in the traffic area where the operator has the greatest of vehicles, or the greatest number of operating centres. or its registered office or HQ.
Vosa is planning a pilot to test the feasibility of a central PO box for licensing in Leeds, but says it has no plans to close anyTA0s.
Simplified fees
The DtT's plan also involves revising the licence fee structure, with a single fee per vehicle which would be paid at the time of the annual test. One option is to merge the 0-licence, application and vehicle fees with the fee for the test. Another is to merge 0-licence and vehicle fees with the test fee while retaining the application and variation fees.
The DIT believes its plans are "cost-neutral" across the industry as a whole. The total fees payable by some small firms might be reduced, but larger operators and those who use trailers could he looking at higher test fees.
Trailer operators currently enjoy an element of cross-subsidy in that the costs of enforcement for trailers are recovered from the road transport sector as a whole. This will cease.
Vosa says licence fees will be increased at the same time as the proposed restructuring comes into effect on 1 April 2007, This is designed to ensure that changes are only made once, rather than fee increases being implemented in August 2006 (in line with previous years) followed by fee restructuring eight months later.
The proposed increase on 1 April 2007 will take into account inflation for the August 2006-April 2008 period, which is expected to be around 5.5%.
Discs abolished
The third change involves the abolition of 0licence discs and the 28-day margin. Operators will have to notify TAOs as soon as a vehicle is first added to a licence and when it ceases to be used:Those without internet access will be able to register changes by phone or fax.
Under the current system. operators who regularly use vehicles on short-term hire can avoid paying 0-licence fees if they use them for fewer than 28 days. Under the proposed changes they will be required to specify these vehicles on their licences immediately.
Gavin Scott. policy manager at the Freight Transport Association, fears that withdrawing the concession entirely will cause problems: "Instantaneous notification may not be practical for some operators." FTA members in Scotland have suggested a 24-hour period of grace.
Road Haulage Association members in the Midland and Western regions have responded to the consultation on these proposals by opposing the abolition of the 0-licence disc. While Vosa enforcement officers will have the ability louse their computers to check if a truck is specified on a licence, an operator's customer will he unable to tell if a vehicle is being operated legally. Steve Williams, public affairs manager althe REIA's policy department. says: "At the moment many customers of hauliers will not load or unload a lorry unless it has a valid
identity disc displayed in the windscreen. If the disc is abolished they will have no quick and simple way of checking.
"True, an operator can be checked to see if they have an 0-licence via the Vosa website but at the moment individual lorry registration numbers cannot be checked by this method. If this was made possible via the web or a telephone hotline,t hen they would support the abolition of the identity disc."
The RHA broadly supports the endingof the 28-day margin but some members have yet to be convinced.They doubt that the technology is reliable enough to guarantee updates will be immediately made and relayed to enforcement staff at the roadside.
"Last-minute lorry changes occur at anti social hours and are often done in a rush," says Williams."If an operator's computer is down or the fax or phones are out for any reason, or if TAN2 I systems are down, the failure to notify immediately could result in prosecution. Vosa has said that mitigating evidence of failed attempts to notify would be taken into account. but members are hard to convince."
RHA members say they would prefer an interim period of seven days until both sides are happy that the system is working.
Williams says the RHA is lobbying for an 0-licence service-level agreement (SLA) that clarifies acceptable mitigating circumstances: "We already have an SLA for vehicle testing with VOSA and believe that this is a positive step towards ending the 'them and us' culture that both operators and enforcement staff have come to expect." •