Logistics businesses have kept safety at the forefront of their operations throughout the COVID-19 crisis, according to Logistics UK, which launched its first Compliance Report 2020 at the business group’s annual Transport Manager event, sponsored by Brigade Electronics. The report is based on the business group’s analysis of publicly available data from the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), as well as Freedom of Information requests made to the Agency.
The report has identified several areas where compliance appears to be improving, for example, prohibitions – orders from either the DVSA or Police during road worthiness checks which prevent an individual from driving a vehicle until a defect is fixed – are down almost 19% in 2018/2019 from 2013/2014 for GB operators. The UK has robust systems in place regulating the safety of commercial vehicles, so both businesses and the public can be confident logistics businesses are operating to high standards of care and efficiency.
But James Firth, Head of Road Freight Regulation Policy at Logistics UK warns against drawing the wrong conclusions: “Logistics UK’s first Compliance Report shows that measuring compliance, including the way in which DVSA targets enforcement – as well as changes to the law – is not always as simple as numbers going up or down. Industry and the authorities need to do more to understand what lies beneath the figures, and we need to make sure that interventions are focussed on getting dangerous vehicles off the road.”
Mr Firth continues: “Logistics UK’s members are proud of their road safety records and resist fiercely any diminution of the UK’s demanding expectations of fleet operational compliance. Logistics UK’s Compliance Report 2020 aims to examine what the data is telling us and, more importantly, where we need a better understanding to make effective interventions – either through good practice or further regulation – in our aim to continually improve the safety of Britain’s roads.”
To view the report, please visit: www.logistics.org.uk/compliance-report-2020
