DVSA sets out enforcement priorities at FTA conference

Addressing the Freight Transport Association’s (FTA) Transport Manager conference in Sparkford, Somerset, Caroline Hicks, head of enforcement transformation at DVSA, outlined several areas of current focus for the agency’s enforcement operations.

Load security was very much on the agenda, with 2,000 prohibitions a year being issued for problems in this area.

DVSA was taking a tougher approach, she said: where once action would only be taken where a load had already moved, “examiners now take action against unsecured loads even if they haven’t moved.

“Unsecured loads are now an ‘S’ marked prohibition, and will impact on the operator compliance risk score (OCRS) and attract a fixed penalty, and so may trigger a public inquiry,” she warned.

The agency also appeared to be getting on top of the issue of emissions manipulation.

“We found 500 vehicles with interrupted emissions systems, but numbers are now dropping.  However, there is a rogue part of the industry that is always trying to get ahead of us, and we are now looking at new measures beyond physical examinations including CAN-scanning tools.

“Offenders will always be reported to the traffic commissioner,” she emphasised.

She reviewed the progress of the Earned Recognition scheme, which enables DVSA resources to be freed up by allowing exemplary fleets to submit compliance data in areas like drivers’ hours and maintenance to the agency remotely.  Currently, it allowed seven per cent of the national fleet to be covered by just two inspectors, freeing the rest to concentrate on operators outside the scheme. She expected coverage to increase to 10 per cent of the national fleet by the end of the financial year.

Measures to counter terrorism were going to become part of the scheme, she added.

Meanwhile, a national network of 10,000 automatic number-plate recognition cameras is being put into place to integrate the devices operated by various police forces and enforcement agencies across England and Wales.

“It integrates the ANPR network with the MoT and tachograph databases,” she said.

It is already being used to target vehicles operating on revoked O-licences. It had identified vehicles being driven on the road at times when they were supposedly being MoT-tested. In those circumstances, the MoT was cancelled and the test station’s authority revoked.

“We have targeted vehicles that have been out of test for over three months, and in the first three months detected 10,000 of them. These vehicles will now be traced and stopped,” she said.

The system had also uncovered tachograph offences, including the use of manipulation devices and drivers using a second card.

DVSA had now reversed its earlier policy on the remote interrogation of new-generation ‘smart’ tachographs, and was trialling equipment in partnership with the German authorities. The equipment could be used to detect anomalies, such as a vehicle being driven without a card, or a speed trace not being recorded while the vehicle was in motion.

Hicks also highlighted the agency’s view that it was currently taking too long for vehicles to have serious faults rectified free of charge where there was a safety recall.

“There are too many parties between the registered keeper and the vehicle operator: sometimes with leased vehicles there are five or six people between the registered keeper and the transport manager responsible for the roadworthiness of the vehicle.”

But changes to the system meant that manufacturers would now be able to contact the operator directly.

“The traffic commissioners now take the view that recalls must be dealt with at or before the vehicle’s next PMI,” she said.

“A check for outstanding recalls should be a part of every PMI. Vehicles with outstanding defects will be flagged if they are involved in an incident.”