DfT responds to MPs’ report on VOSA
The Department for Transport (DfT) has responded to a range of concerns raised by the House of Commons transport select committee, in its recent report about the work of the Vehicle & Operator Services Agency, VOSA.
On the issue of claims that operators were suffering long time delays at authorised testing facility (ATF) tests or having to travel long distances in order to reach them, the government said: “VOSA has been intensively monitoring test availability with station managers contacting their ATFs on a weekly basis to assess forward booking times (FBTs) at each site.
“Any ATFs that have FBTs of two to three weeks are actively encouraged to increase their service provision. Where the agency has been made aware of vehicle owners or presenters not being able to access a test within a preferred timeframe or at a preferred location, it has worked with them and ATFs to address the matter. The cessation of testing at government-owned sites does not take place until sufficient tests are available through the ATF network.”
The DfT also addressed concerns raised by MPs that “undue reliance on the OCRS [Operator Compliance Risk Scoring system] could have a distorting effect whereby larger operators are not being monitored effectively,” thereby potentially encouraging “complacency or poor practice.”
The department claimed: “The OCRS system developed by VOSA does not in its calculation process take into account the size of an operator’s business. It attributes risk on a history of the seriousness of the offences or mechanical defects found and the number of inspections of an operator’s vehicles…
“VOSA’s vision is for all operators of goods and passenger vehicles to be compliant with road safety standards. To achieve this, the Agency’s strategy uses a spectrum of approaches from advice and education through to enforcement. In the case of the latter, enforcement teams use a range of tools including OCRS, intelligence markers, testing outputs and other data sources to determine which operators or vehicles should be targeted for investigation.
“Going forward the Agency is seeking to look at risk through an ever widening lens and will be trialling the use of telematics data and automated tachograph usage analysis in 2014. VOSA will certainly be following up any evidence of complacency or poor practice regardless of the size of an operator’s business.”
On the soon-to-launch HGV Road User Levy aimed at charging foreign trucks for use of the UK’s roads, the government confirmed that VOSA’s Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system would be enhanced with additional cameras, to improve coverage of foreign HGV activity “on roads leading to and from the major roll-on roll-off ports in Great Britain.”
It also highlighted VOSA’s data-sharing agreements with Transport Scotland, the Welsh Assembly and Northern Ireland’s Department of the Environment, claiming that this cooperation with the devolved administrations would “enhance… enforcement intelligence” of the scheme across the UK.
Another key issue addressed by MPs was VOSA’s sometimes fraught relationship with the independent traffic commissioners. Earlier in the year, senior traffic commissioner Beverley Bell made outspoken criticisms of the agency during an oral evidence session with the transport committee (Transport Operator, June), which chair Louise Ellman said raised “very serious issues about road safety.”
Concerns were also raised about an apparent lack of effective communication between VOSA and the office of the traffic commissioners.
The DfT said: “Changes have been made in the course of 2013, which should tackle some of the perceptions about the institutional responsibilities… There are mechanisms now in place to enable the senior traffic commissioner, senior VOSA management and the Department [for Transport] to communicate effectively.
“For example the senior traffic commissioner, department and senior VOSA managers now meet regularly and frequently, including to consider how policy issues affect the priorities for the traffic commissioners and VOSA enforcement…
“The senior traffic commissioner now considers there to be more effective communication with both DfT and VOSA. All parties are now moving forward to deliver their particular objectives in the most effective and efficient way possible.”
The government also appeared to reiterate its stance on the retention of VOSA inspectors under public-sector employment, which the committee said it would “not like to see… undermined in any way” – despite the ongoing outsourcing of testing sites through the ATF scheme, which has led commentators to speculate over whether inspectors themselves could eventually be employed directly by ATFs.
“The independence of testing from the private sector ensures that the integrity of the OCRS system continues to be held in high regard throughout the transport industry,” the DfT said, pointing out that 96 per cent of ATFs say they are satisfied with the service provided by VOSA testers.
The National Franchised Dealers Association (NFDA), which represents both commercial vehicle and franchised car retailers, released a statement in response expressing its disappointment with this stance.
NFDA director Sue Robinson said: “Whilst the NFDA support many of the points made in today’s report, it does have concerns, namely the DfT’s refusal to acknowledge that the complete privatisation of AFTs is in the best interests of the commercial vehicle sector.
“The NFDA believe that the future of privately run ATFs is dependent on the HGV testers being employees of the ATF. This would allow them to create a dealer facility that is a ‘one-stopshop’ and can also offer 24/7 service to fleet operators.
“Future demand has been ignored as the introduction of EU Type Approval starts next year when most new trucks will need to be tested prior to them being registered.
“We believe that full privatisation would also improve the effectiveness and efficiency of VOSA services for both industry and the consumer.”
