It is the title of the new Government document on the traffic commissioner system that is worrying. It is called “Strengthening local delivery- Modernising the traffic commissioner system.” In my view anything involving the Government and the words modernising is deeply worrying.
Curiously the document seems to be more about buses than trucks. It wants the Traffic commissioners to and its now Board to be national focus for complaints about the reliability and punctuality of local bus services and investigate and seek complaints.
That is fine but it sounds like a lot of extra work. My concern is that that the Commissioners will have to concentrate on buses and the haulage industry and there will be less time for the haulage industry. The Government says that the Commissioners role with the haulage industry will be at least maintained. My question is how is this to be achieved, given a big extra work load and emphasis on buses?
There is another slightly concerning suggestion in the document. It says that one option would be to delegate O-licensing directly to VOSA with an appeal to the traffic commissioners, with the Transport Tribunal as an ultimate appeals body. Is that what we want?
Also be proposed is that the Traffic Commissioners work on a national rather than local basis with them being able to work anywhere in the UK. The Board will also be able to allocate work to individual Traffic Commissioners, to “redistribute casework in response to fluctuations in workload” That might be useful, although it could reduce the local knowledge of the Commissioners.