The Road Haulage Forum meeting, December 2005

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Note of discussions at meeting held at DfT, Great Minster House, London, on 7 December 2005

Present

Dr Stephen Ladyman MP, Minister of State for Transport (Chair)

John Healey, Financial Secretary HM Treasury

Roger King (RHA)

Willie Oliver (RHA)

Richard Turner (FTA)

John Russell (FTA)

Edward Roderick (FTA/Skills for Logistics)

Ron Webb (TGWU)

Robert Monks (URTU)

Stuart Archbold (Archbold Logistics)

Also present

Brian Wadsworth (DfT)

Hamid Tavassoly (DfT)

Mark Bosly (DfT)

Francis Liston (DfT - Secretariat)

Richard Cureden (TRL)

Devolved Administrations:
Donald Armstrong - Northern Ireland
Ian Malcolm- Scottish Executive
Andrew Hemmings - Welsh Assembly

Paul Hadley (DTI - Small Business Service)

Apologies

Lawrence Christensen CBE (Sainsbury's)

Longer and heavier lorries

Stephen Ladyman announced that, after careful consideration, Ministers have decided to refuse the two applications to trial goods vehicles that are longer and heavier than those currently permitted. He acknowledged that there are sectors of the industry who will remain interested in these vehicles and so DfT officials will continue to monitor developments, including the trials currently taking place in Holland, and keep Ministers informed.

Lorry parking and rest areas

Stephen Ladyman explained what action had been undertaken since the discussion about parking facilities at the last Forum.

  • DfT officials had organised a meeting with the motorway service operators, trade associations, unions and others in September.
  • The Minister had then met with the motorway service operators himself. They had raised a number of points including the use of logos on motorway signs and possible extensions of leases/offering freeholds. Dr Ladyman had then set out some of the concerns of the road haulage industry including better facilities for HGV drivers, not pressuring them to move on after a couple of hours, and free overnight parking.
  • The motorway service operators said they were happy to discuss these issues with the industry, and would be in touch with them. The Department has passed on contact details and DfT officials will be available to attend a meeting.

Digital Tachographs ("digitachs")

Industry representatives said that they were keen for an early announcement of the date when new vehicles should be fitted with digitachs and for wide publicity of this date.

Stephen Ladyman reported that discussions overnight in Brussels between the EU Council and the European Parliament had led to agreement on a new Regulation on driver's hours. This text would say that digital tachographs would be mandatory for new vehicles from soon after publication of the new Regulation in the EU Official journal, and that the Council and EP had agreed that publication should happen in April. This would mean digitachs would be come mandatory for new vehicles from early May.

Working Time Directive - Periods of Availability (PoAs)

The TGWU informed the Forum that they were planning to carry out a national survey in early 2006 to see what effect PoAs were having on the industry.

The Minister said that the Department planned to carry out its promised review of the Working Time Directive between the middle and end of 2006.

On the spot accident investigation

At the last Forum it was noted that there was no equivalent for road accidents to the accident investigation boards for air and sea. The Department drew attention to a current research project by the Highways Agency and TRL into on the spot accident investigation and promised to present their findings at a future Forum. Richard Cureden from TRL gave a short presentation on the project. He explained how the on the spot accident investigation team were called to around 500 accidents per year. The team needed to be able to get to accidents quickly before any evidence was removed. The data collected could provide useful information to all the interested parties, from road designers/builders to vehicle manufacturers.

Enforcement and VOSA resourcing/equality of treatment of UK/foreign hauliers

The Government's announcement in the Pre-Budget Report of £2 million investment in weigh in motion sensors and Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) was welcomed, though some concerns regarding VOSA and Police resources needed for enforcement were also expressed.

There was a suggestion that there could be some form of accreditation for responsible operators, ie self vehicle testing and certification. Stephen Ladyman said safety was his top priority, but if some element of deregulation could be introduced, without compromising safety, he was happy to look into the matter.

Statutory fees for vehicle recovery

It was reported that recovery operators had two areas of concern with regard to statutory fees for vehicle recovery:

  1. The legislation does not differentiate between different types of vehicle, ie cars and heavy goods vehicles attract the same recovery fee.
  2. The fees have not been increased since 1993 and currently stand at £105 for a removal and £12 per day storage.

It was pointed out that the Scottish Executive had recently increased their recovery fees from £105 to £150 and a review of the statutory fees should be carried out. Stephen Ladyman said this was a matter for the Home Office but would pass on the concerns raised.

The Burns Inquiry, fuel duty and foreign competition

John Healey provided some details about the setting up of the haulage industry Task Group, as announced in the Pre-Budget Report. The Task Group was a first response from Government to the Burns Inquiry. He explained that the purpose of the Task Group was:

  • assess the pressures identified by the Burns Inquiry and how these compare with pressures facing other sectors which are similarly open to international competition or have experienced rising input costs.
  • To examine the importance of other issues affecting the efficiency and productivity of the industry, in addition to those within the Burns remit, including workforce pressures, fair and effective enforcement, regulatory costs and promotion and sharing of best practice To through the industry.

The Task Group would comprise senior officials from HMT and DfT, and representatives from the FTA and RHA. The Task Group would also seek input from the Unions and wider business organisations, eg CBI and BCC. John Healey said the Task Group would be working to a tight timetable, but hoped that there would be some initial feedback in time for Budget 2006.

The formation of the Task Group was welcomed by Forum members who offered to provide any assistance that was needed.

Health & Safety - survey for the logistics industry

TGWU had carried out a survey in Yorkshire in 2004 and whilst the responses received indicated that health & safety was being taken seriously by those who had responded, the poor response rate gave the TGWU cause for concern. Stephen Ladyman said that whilst he was happy for his officials to help develop the questionnaire with the trade associations and unions, he did not want this to be a Government task. He was happy to discuss the results of the final survey with the Health & Safety Executive.

Future of the Forum

Stephen Ladyman said that he wanted to make the Forum more effective and had some concerns about its current format. He had received representations from hauliers who felt their voice wasn't being heard and wondered how he could rectify this.

In discussion there were various views put forward on ways to improve the Forum. The Minister asked the members to write to him or officials if they had any further thoughts, and he would let them know in due course what he planned to do to make the forum more effective.