Senior TC to MPs: VOSA ‘not targeting the serially and seriously non-compliant’

The senior traffic commissioner, Beverley Bell, has raised serious concerns to MPs about perceived weaknesses in VOSA’s transport enforcement regime.

Bell’s comments came during an outspoken appearance at a recent evidence session of the House of Commons transport select committee, which is currently conducting an enquiry into the work of VOSA.

She claimed she spoke for all her colleagues when she said serious compliance breaches were not being brought to traffic commissioners’ attention by VOSA to the degree that they once were.

“Where are the drivers’ hours referrals? Where are the serious investigations? It is the view of all commissioners that this is not happening any more. We don’t get those serious cases brought to our attention,” she said.

“It is easy for VOSA to target the soft underbelly of the nice but incompetent small operators. It is much more difficult to target and enforce the tough hard core of highly non-compliant operators who show a total disregard for road safety.”

During a frank question-and-answer session with MPs, Bell said VOSA “do some fabulous work, but I don’t think they do enough of it.”

She cited a number of examples of areas in which she felt VOSA enforcement could be more effective, including in prosecuting overloading, enforcement of drivers’ hours rules and maintenance investigations.

“If you look at the statistics, in 2005-06, there were 26,000, as near as damn it, weigh-ins of vehicles,” she said. “In 2010-11 there were 2,600, as near as damn it. That is a tenth. Overloading prosecutions in 2011-12 were 166. VOSA only prosecutes at over 30 per cent. Your vehicle has to be overloaded by more than 30 per cent before there is a prosecution, despite the fact that the European regulations say that, if you overload by 20 per cent or more, you commit a most serious infringement.”

She continued: “In 2005-06… there were 15,000 maintenance investigations, of which 40 per cent were unsatisfactory. In 2010-11, there were 4,500 maintenance investigations, of which 58 per cent were unsatisfactory. I am no mathematician, but, if you do the maths, you will see that, due to the substantial number of reductions in maintenance investigations, we are potentially missing out on 3,500 unsatisfactory maintenance investigations.”

Bell went on to highlight inconsistencies in VOSA claims about the referral of convictions to the traffic commissioners.

“All commissioners have grave concerns that VOSA is not targeting the serially and seriously non-compliant. I am concerned about some of the aspects of its report because it says that it is referring all convictions to us that it brings to court. In its stats for the last year, 2011-12, there were about 6,000 convictions that it says were referred to us. That is not the case. A quick call round my offices earlier today revealed in the region of 650 cases referred to us.”

Bell said she would support higher fixed penalties for non-compliance, saying the current fine amount was “not always sufficient to act as a deterrent” – though added that these decisions would likely need to be taken at a European level. Other issues she highlighted included the problem of “getting the money out of the foreign operators” prosecuted in the UK; problems with VOSA’s enforcement of bus punctuality and reliability; and the long-running theme of the traffic commissioners’ perceived lack of independence from VOSA.

On safety, Bell said: “I am not unduly concerned about the state of the fleet with regard to wheels falling off. I am much more concerned about drivers – tired drivers, drivers who are abusing the hours, drivers who fall asleep at the wheel, enforcement of cabotage and enforcement of combined transport. That is what we are concerned about.”

Bell also remarked on the effect of non-compliance on fair competition. “Not complying saves operators thousands and thousands of pounds. Breaches of drivers’ hours are a very cost-effective way to cut costs-work the vehicles harder and work the drivers harder. The compliant operator just hangs their head in despair when they see non-compliant operators, quite frankly, getting away with it…

“Commissioners are very concerned that VOSA needs to be cohesive, structured, joined up, and engage with us early, to look together at how to root out the serially and seriously non-compliant. That is where we want VOSA to support TCs.”

Bell told MPs that constructive dialogue with VOSA was now underway. Two representatives from the traffic commissioners had been tasked specifically with liaising with the agency on issues regarding its enforcement strategy; while a Compliance Forum chaired by the Department for Transport was also meeting regularly, including representatives from VOSA, the traffic commissioners and trade associations.

Transport select committee chair Louise Ellman MP said Bell’s evidence was “important and disturbing”, and raised “very serious issues about road safety.”

After hearing from Bell, Ellman took VOSA chief executive Alastair Peoples to task over her comments, as part of his own evidence session.

Defending VOSA’s record, Peoples said: “The traffic commissioners have never raised those concerns with me. In terms of our effectiveness report, we are looking at much greater targeting of areas that we believe impact most on road safety.

“It is fair to say that the industry and those that represent the industry recognise that we are targeting the most serial of offenders in terms of the roadside. It is not the only thing that we do. Clearly there is education and training required, but, in terms of our targeting, we firmly believe that we are targeting those that require most attention from VOSA.”

Said Peoples: “For the past number of years we have been very successful in setting up a targeting regime that is benchmarked within Europe…

“The Operator Compliance Risk Score… has been very widely accepted within the industry as targeting those most in need of our attention at the roadside.”

He added that his relationship with the traffic commissioners was “businesslike”, and with Bell, “very cordial” – though conceded that, “in working through some of the issues that we have had, it has not always been a marriage made in heaven.”