The subject of tyres has been discussed many times before but this was released by the DVSA on Wednesday. Therefore, please ensure that the checking of tyres (front’s especially for this announcement), on your own fleet is carried out by either your drivers, tyre contractors or workshops. Please don’t get caught out!!
The Department for Transport announced yesterday (15 July) that tyres aged 10 years or older will be banned on the front axles of lorries, buses and coaches using new laws.
The update issued on 18 June 2020 includes reference to:
an increase in the maximum time allowed for a period of grace for financial standing an operator can receive from 6 months to 12 months
more information about in-person tribunal hearings in England from July 2020 (with hearings in Scotland and Wales likely to start a few weeks later as circumstances allow)
Physical attendance at public inquiries and other hearings are due to resume from Monday 6 July, with social distancing measures in place.
Published 17 June 2020
The Traffic Commissioners for Great Britain have announced that in-person tribunal hearings are set to resume from Monday 6 July 2020. This follows the postponement of cases in March 2020 as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Each tribunal location has been risk assessed and appropriate control measures identified. Steps will be put in place to maintain social distancing and ensure that facilities are COVID-secure. The health and safety of attendees, Office of the Traffic Commissioner (OTC) staff and the commissioners themselves remains of paramount importance and underpins the decision to resume in-person hearings.
Those called to a hearing will be advised of the time and date of their hearing, with sufficient notice given to prepare their case. OTC will provide advice on the steps they may need to take ahead of the hearing in the provision of evidence, and on arrival to assist in maintaining social distancing and ensuring hygiene standards.
Anyone who wants to attend a public inquiry as an observer will need to contact the OTC in advance. This is because the capacity of the tribunal rooms will be restricted during the current period. Some hearings may continue to be held via video link or equivalent. This will be limited to appropriate cases only.
Anyone called to public inquiry (P I), who has concerns about attending in person should let OTC staff know immediately on receipt of the letter calling them to a hearing.
While the majority of OTC staff continue to work from home, please direct any email enquiries to [email protected] or your relevant case worker’s email address.
We occasionally received enquiries from customer about the changes that have been forced on our industries during these unpresidented times and this is such a subject.
Most professional lorry and bus drivers must complete 35 hours of periodic training every 5 years to maintain their Driver Certificate of Professional Competence qualification. This is evidenced by a Driver CPC card.
The card is sometimes called a ‘driver qualification card’ or ‘DQC’.
The validity of DQCs with expiry dates from 1 February 2020 to 31 August 2020 have been extended by 7 months. If the expiry date on your card is in this period, you should add 7 months to run-out (4b on the card) date to calculate the new expiry date.
The information below was received a short while ago from the GOV.UK webportal.
The EU has made temporary changes to the road transport rules that apply to operators and drivers of heavy goods and public service vehicles, to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 (coronavirus) on the road transport sector.
This email explains how these changes apply in Great Britain.
We have had a couple of emails and calls over the past couple of days regarding the above so we thought we would post this as a blog on our here for clarification. As is written below, the relaxation of EU drivers hours ceased with effect from 00:00 1st June 2020 and this was an email that was constructed and sent out as soon as we received the information from the GOV.UK webservice. Please ensure any of your drivers who took advantage of these rules, made print-outs for every day they did so; this is very, very important as we are already aware drivers having being stopped and asked for proof of their activities.
Over the past year or so things have been happening behind the scenes of Transolva Ltd.
We have just gained our ISO 9001:2015 certification which has involved a lot of hard work. This important development now means we will be able to increase further the services we can offer and we are hoping to be able to Audit soon for the DVSA Earned Recognition Scheme.
In response to requests from Industry, the Department for Transport has, pursuant to Article 14(2) of Regulation (EC) No 561/2006, agreed to a temporary and limited urgent relaxation of the enforcement of EU drivers’ hours rules in England, Scotland and Wales for the drivers of vehicles involved in the delivery of food, non-food (personal care and household paper and cleaning) and over the counter pharmaceuticals when undertaking the following journeys:
Distribution centre to stores (or fulfilment centre)
From manufacturer or supplier to distribution centre (including backhaul collections)
From manufacturer or supplier to store (or fulfilment centre)
Between distribution centres and transport hub trunking
The interests of our customers, our people and our communities are at the centre of everything we do, and this is particularly important during these extremely challenging times.
We are following the guidance issued by Public Health England, taking extra measures to ensure our staff are reducing risk to as low as possible. Our staff continue to operate, in the office or from home and are contactable through our office number or emails to help with any queries you may have.
