TCs’ future assured after consultation
The future of Great Britain’s traffic commissioners (TC) as regulators of the commercial road transport sector has been assured after a public consultation by the Department for Transport (DfT).
In late 2020, the then outgoing head of the Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency told the House of Commons transport select committee: “I am firmly of the view that we don’t need the traffic commissioners any more.
“They are anachronistic. They were probably OK in the 1930s, but the reality is we have a really good track record of enforcement through the courts and tribunal service and I think we should be doing that for operators as well and that will save us millions and millions of pounds.”
A public consultation on the role and duties of the TCs came the following year.
The results have just been published. It concludes that: “TCs undertake an important function on behalf of the DfT, contributing directly to improving transport for the user by promoting the safe operation of heavy vehicles and buses on Great Britain’s roads and growing the economy by supporting transport operators to keep goods and passengers moving.”
DfT said that the “TC function generally operates effectively and can meet the standards of service for the transport industry”; and that “TCs enjoy support from stakeholders for the scope of their activities and independence”; but that “all major stakeholders agreed on the necessity of fee reform”.
The main recommendations to arise from the consultation are that: “substantial improvement to the TC function would require legislative change”; and that “opportunities exist to improve efficiency by better allocating responsibilities and providing additional governance through improving collaborative working between DfT, DVSA and the TCs”. The full report is at the gov.uk website.
