Written evidence submitted by the Freight Transport Association (FTA) (RSA0106)

Introduction

1. UK roads are the lifeblood for haulage and logistics. All aspects of modern life rely on the road network to transport goods for our home lives, our businesses, our schools and hospitals.  Without logistics the world as we know it simply wouldn’t exist. More than 80% of goods travel by road and as the economy grows, the demands placed on the road network will only increase. As a result, safety of the road network is vitally important to the FTA and its members.
2. Logistics only exists to fulfil the requirements of others: the UK’s producers, manufactures, retailers and consumers.  Together they need logistics to move 1.57 billion tonnes of goods every year.  That works out as 4.3m tonnes of goods having to be delivered every day to keep society functioning.
3. The FTA is one of the UK’s largest trade associations that represents all of logistics, with 17,000 members across the road, rail, sea and air industries, as well as the buyers of freight services such as retailers and manufacturers whose businesses depend on the efficient movement of goods. FTA members operate more than 200,000 lorries, almost half the UK fleet and one million vans.

Logistics Safety performance

4. Within the UK HGVs and vans are generally well driven and safe.  In 2017 the rate of incidents per billion miles driven for HGVs was 302 and vans 247.  This compares to a car rate of 685 and a bus/coach rate of 2,073.  Considering the greater difficulty in driving a van or HGV, this is a highly positive record that reflects well on our professional drivers and the way our fleets are managed.
5. Obviously given the size/weight of the vehicles involved, when an incident does occur the consequences can be more serious.  The fatal incidents per billion miles rate for HGVs is 15, the same figure for vans is just 3.7, compared to a car figure of 7.5.
6. Commercial vehicle safety continues to improve.  The van fatal incident rate per billion miles has halved from 7.3 to 3.7 in just the last decade (2007-17), whilst the HGV rate has dropped by 40%, from 25.4 to 15.2 in the same period.[1]  This is a progressive year on year reduction that shows no signs of stopping.
7. But no matter the improvements that are made, alternatives modes, where possible, will continue for the foreseeable future to offer safer ways to move goods – the safety records of rail and water are significantly in excess of that of any form of road transportation.

FTA Inquiry Response

8. Across the wide spectrum of road safety issues FTA believes improvements to the following areas would ensure efficient road haulage whilst also maintaining standards and safety on the UK’s roads.
9. FTA would like to see the Department for Transport (DfT) and wider Government agencies develop the following policies, and so calls them to the Select Committee’s attention:

Minimising Road Freight Movements

10. The UK relies heavily on the road network for the transportation of goods but road and water freight services (around the coast or on rivers and canals) can deliver lower emissions and improvements in safety. One freight train could remove 4,500 lorry miles from the road network and one freight train can remove seventy lorries from the road. Each tonne of freight can reduce carbon emission by 76% when moved by rail rather than road.
11. However, there are barriers to a larger scale shift. Financial costs play a large part in this and the frequency of services and convenient access to the network.  To reduce freight movements on the road Government needs to help stimulate growth in rail and water.  Water freight access must also be protected, and grant regimes for both sea and rail freight should be maintained. Rail freight requires support by reducing infrastructure costs, developing and protecting capacity for freight trains, ensuring 24/7 network access and green-lighting appropriate port and rail freight interchange developments. With rail market share in logistics currently around 10%, there is significant scope for increasing quantities moved by rail and water, but achievable volumes will depend on the financial costs and incentives.  Without support in the areas outlined above then it is reasonable to assume that a large majority of freight will continue to be moved by road.
12. Aside from water and rail, there are further improvements that can be made within road freight to minimise movements. FTA is a supporter of the Longer Semi Trailer trial because of the vehicles’ ability to provide improvements in road miles and emissions for freight vehicles. Recent evidence suggests that over the past six years having just 0.5% of UK HGVs 12% longer has seen 270,000 fewer HGV journeys on the road, saving 32.9 million kms of HGV journeys, and resulting in 70% fewer collisions. Last year, the trial’s scheduled length was extended from 10 to 15 years due to the promising results so far and as a result FTA is calling on DfT to make the trial permanent.  Further options should be considered about what dimensions of vehicles can be allowed that would reduce road journeys, be safer on the road and not have a counter-balancing negative effects of the alternative modes.  Currently DfT refuses to even examine the possibilities.
13. Recommendation – The Government needs to help stimulate growth in rail freight by reducing infrastructure costs (in the form of Track Access Charges), developing and protecting capacity for freight trains; ensuring 24/7 network access; and green-lighting appropriate port and rail freight interchange developments. Water freight access must also be protected. Grant regimes for both sea and rail freight should be maintained and enhanced. Government should also make the Longer Semi Trailer trial permanent.

Improving HGV enforcement

14. FTA members are intent on compliance.  One of the chief reasons for joining a trade association is so that operators can ensure they stay abreast with their obligations under the law and any future changes.  Those conscientious operators who invest in their drivers, vehicles and safety systems to ensure they do not pose a risk to road safety expect the Government to support them by taking effective enforcement action against those who seek to reduce their costs and compete unfairly by cutting corners and risking road safety. 
15. The 2016-17 DVSA fleet check of a random, non-targeted sample of compliance in goods vehicles and trailers showed that 75.3% of GB registered vehicles and 77.5% of trailers were found to be defect-free with 5.2% of vehicles and 4.3% of trailers displaying defects which warranted their immediate prohibition and immobilisation.  FTA and our members believe these non-compliance rates are unacceptably high for the standards we wish to set.
16. Members have indicated in the past that they may be prepared to pay more for increased enforcement of the industry if the funding is transparent and can demonstrate clear improvements to compliance and road safety. 
17. Recommendation – FTA calls on the Government and its agencies to explore options for how HGV enforcement could be intelligently enhanced, even at the cost of increased fees to our industry if justified by improved outcomes.

Automatic notification of status of HGV drivers’ licence

18. Heavy commercial vehicle operators have an obligation under operator licensing to ensure that drivers have legal entitlement to drive the vehicle they are using; in light commercial vehicles and cars, employers have an implied duty of care under Health and Safety at Work to ensure that employees driving a vehicle for their work are legally entitled to do so.  Driver licence checking is a critical aspect of any road fleet.
19. Whilst FTA has welcomed a number of improvements in driver licence checking implemented by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, FTA members remain concerned that they continually carry a risk that the system relies too heavily on drivers volunteering changes to the driving entitlement (e.g. suspensions or driving bans) rather the system notifying them. 
20. FTA has argued that there should be a mechanism to make a voluntary data link between a driver record and an employer.  Currently, if there is something wrong with a vehicle then that vehicle is linked either to an operator in the case of a Heavy Goods Vehicle or the registered keeper in the case of a van or a car.  With drivers there is no such link. FTA has long called for a driver licensing system which allows ‘push notifications’ to operators/employers.  This would mean that a driver would make a mandate which lasted (perhaps) a year, and in that time any changes to their licence would be pushed to the individual/organisation to whom they had mandated. 
21. Recommendation - DVLA should develop the driving licence system for drivers to make voluntary, time-limited mandates to allow push notifications of changes to their driving licence status to be sent to employers. 

Improving Road Surfaces

22. The quality of the existing road network is poor and maintenance of it must be improved. FTA believe that a significant amount of vehicle damage can be blamed on road surface damage and the public is aware of the dangers of potholes.
23. As well as the cost of vehicle damage however, a more serious road safety risk exists in drivers understandably seeking to avoid hitting the damaged road surface. That can contribute to inconsiderate and sometimes dangerous driving which can have serious effects. In 2017 the road environment was a factor in 12% of serious and fatal accidents. 
24. Poor quality roads surfaces particularly affect cyclists’ safety, a key area of concern for FTA given the dangers of cyclist/HGV interactions.
25. FTA would like to see Highways England and local authorities’ revenue budgets maintained to allow for adequate maintenance of existing roads.
26. Investment in maintaining roads is money well spent.  This has been demonstrated by the EURORAP programme “Making Safe Road Design a European Transport Priority” which not only examines good surface condition but safety in structure and good clear road marking.
27. Recommendation - Government should task highway authorities with the development of programmes to ensure road surface condition is safe and provide funding to achieve this.

Improving Van safety

28. FTA would like first to note that most vans (commercial vehicles under 3.5 tonnes in weight) are not used for freight purposes but are part of the servicing industry.  Public perception assumes growth in van traffic is about parcel deliveries.  This is not true – in fact only 3% of vans are engaged in that work.
29. However, FTA’s members operate over a million of the UK’s vans and seeks to drive improvement in the safety record of this fleet.  In 2010 – responding to requests from a number of FTA members who wished to set themselves aside from the negative perceptions of the some in the sector – FTA established its ‘Van Excellence’ Scheme.  Van Excellence is an accreditation scheme which allows light goods vehicle operators to demonstrate they meet a high standard in respect of vehicle maintenance, driver training and conduct, and fleet management.  The scheme currently has 120 members operating over 125,000 vehicles.  Van Excellence Members operate to high standards and expect those who try to undercut the market by operating illegally to be subject to effective enforcement action. 
30. DVSA is not as transparent about the spending of industry’s collected fees as we would hope, but it is thought that here is a fund of around £40 million to fund enforcement against 650,000 HGVs, buses and coaches.  By contrast, DVSA’s enforcement effort in respect of around 4 million vans is funded by a grant from the Department for Transport of around £2 million.  In 2017/18 DVSA stopped 13,357 vans to examine their roadworthiness. In 2017 DfT consulted on proposals to move the funding of van enforcement onto the MOT fee for around 600,000 Class 7 vans[2]; FTA supported the move which would add around £3.25 to the cost of the MOT (currently capped at £58.60) to equal existing funding.  Members suggested that disproportionately loading the re-test fee would be an effective way of rewarding those intent on compliance whilst potentially increasing the funding stream.  In its response, DfT announced that it did not want to progress with its proposed change.  FTA would like the Government to reconsider this.
31. In March 2019 the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency announced[3] that new powers granted to enforcement officers allowing them to issue fixed penalties for drivers’ hours offences which were not currently being committed had netted over £3 million in fines revenue compared to the previous year.  Fine revenues are returned directly to the Treasury.  However, it would seem appropriate that these additional funds should be used to further support enforcement of road safety laws. 
32. Recommendation – The Government should reconsider the test fee structure to include disproportionately loading of the re-test fee as an effective way of rewarding those intent on compliance whilst potentially increasing the funding stream for van safety enforcement.  FTA also calls on Government to collect the windfall from fees for historical drivers’ hours offences to be reinvested into road safety – particularly focussing upon the poorly funded van sector. 

Adequate rest facilities on the Strategic Road Network

33. It is accepted (and required) that a driver must take adequate rest to be fit to drive when drivers are away from base.  However, there is a lack of provision on our road network.
34. The provision of adequate facilities has been frustrated by a lack of direct government support which has left local planning authorities to deal with the issue. This is a national problem that local authorities are not well positioned to lead on addressing.  Local residents are frequently opposed to individual development of sites, as much as they are to lorries parking inappropriately in their local area.  It is almost understandable that local authorities inevitably retreat from the dispute and turn a blind eye to drivers having to find somewhere to park. That only serves to exacerbate the problem in the local area.
35. A national approach is needed, with government taking the initiative and helping both local planners and developers to progress to a better provision overall.  This could be achieved through the provision of guidance that ensures that early intervention is considered when developing the road network. Without that it will always be someone else’s problem.
36. Recommendation – Government must provide a national overarching approach to lorry parking which provides guidance to councils, planners and developers and ensures that highway authorities are provided with support for the development of new, and improvement of existing roadside facilities for drivers.

Enforcement of Smart Motorways

37. We have seen with the introduction of smart motorways a step change in road rule which affect all drivers. FTA has played its part in working with Highways England to produce training material to educate drivers on how to drive in the managed sections of motorway. However, there are drivers who choose to ignore them particularly in the area of speed limit control or what the red X means.
38. We appreciate that letters have been sent to operators and drivers who show a persistence in ignoring the rules but that is about education and it seems apparent now that there is a need to look at how the roads rules are enforced.
39. The Association believes that we already have sufficient power place with the police and the camera safety partnership but there is a particular lack of presence by the police across the whole of the SRN perhaps due to resourcing of roads police officers.  While that continues it will give the impression that it is OK to flout the rules.  Education of drivers is not enough without enforcement.

40. Recommendation – Government, in particular the Home Office, needs to recognise the need to work with the road authorities to resolve enforcement of smart motorway violations. FTA also calls on Government departments to work together to ensure sufficient resource is available for roads policing.

Enhanced HGV voluntary/procurement standards and practices – pros and cons

41. FTA strongly supports the DVSA’s Earned Recognition scheme which has been running since April 2018.  The scheme subjects participants to forensic audit of their safety systems and satisfactory attainment of the scheme means that DVSA can feel confident in giving such operators less attention in order to focus on the seriously and serially non-compliant. 
42. However, FTA is concerned with the proliferation of accreditation schemes in the industry which do not use the operator licensing system as their standard; such schemes may be offering operators false comfort over the safety of their vehicles on the road.
43. The most well-known such scheme is the Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme (FORS).  FORS was set up by Transport for London but was contracted out to be run by a third-party concession five years ago.  FORS is a procurement standard becoming nationally embedded in contracts, especially in the construction sector. The scheme aims to improve standards within the industry, particularly in relation to safety. It now also includes aspects on environment and terrorism policy. Whilst FTA does not oppose what FORS seeks to achieve, the Association has serious concerns about the current set-up of the scheme. Firstly, there is no separation of the commercial operation of the scheme and the setting of the standard, which has affected industry’s confidence and has raised concerns that the FORS standard is commercially driven. Secondly, FORS has a de facto monopoly on delivering the audits, so there is little choice on who will deliver the audit and how much an operator must pay. And finally, FORS does not provide a thorough audit of the Operator Licence, so it is possible that a company could be FORS accredited and yet not be operating legally. Some operators, including FORS Silver and Gold accredited companies, have unknowingly taken false comfort in their FORS audit and then found themselves at Public Inquiry facing action from the Traffic Commissioners for failings of their Operator Licence undertakings.
44. Recommendation - The Government should retain control of safety regulations for HGVs and vans to avoid local patchwork requirements across the UK.

Regional Regulation: the London Direct Vision Standard

45. London is currently developing a Direct Vision Standard (DVS) for N3 vehicles (goods vehicles over 12 tonnes).  These vehicles will be assessed for the amount of direct vision they have on the front and nearside and will be awarded a star rating from zero to five stars. The scheme which will start from October 2020, will initially ban any zero-star rated HGVs from the capital and will be tightened up to a minimum of three stars in 2024. When first proposed, DVS would have effectively banned approximately 60 per cent of HGVs from the capital, as they did not meet the one-star rating required as of October 2020. As a result of representations by FTA, TfL agreed to recognise the investment that many companies have already made in safety equipment and features on their vehicles by introducing the HGV Safety Permit Scheme.
46. FTA is opposed in principle to vehicle design standards being set at a local level.  This, as a minimum, is the role of national government and should ideally be set by UN or European level bodies.  The creation of a Direct Vision Standard in London will not justify the manufacture of new trucks, therefore meaning that only a limited range of trucks will be available to operators that comply. 
47. Rather than developing new vehicle design standards, FTA believes that local authorities like Transport for London should instead focus its resources on enforcement of those who do not comply with existing rules and regulations such as EU Drivers’ Hours rules and vehicle roadworthiness requirements.  The industry is already heavily regulated through the Operator Licencing system, policed by DVSA and enforced through the Traffic Commissioners.
48. Whilst increasing direct vision may have a role to play, it is not the most effective way of addressing safety issues, instead technological developments over time will mitigate the requirement for improved direct vision. Cameras and mirrors will often give drivers a view that no amount of direct vision will be able to replace. As technology advances, these systems will become even more sophisticated and the benefits greater, whilst the benefits of direct vision remain fixed and limited.
49. Recommendation- DfT should support and encourage the national roll-out of technological safety devices on HGVs, instead of the issue being left to local authorities who might, as in the case of London, pursue expensive schemes of limited benefit.

Summary of recommendations:

50. Minimising Road Freight Movements - The Government needs to help stimulate growth in rail freight by reducing infrastructure costs (in the form of Track Access Charges), developing and protecting capacity for freight trains; ensuring 24/7 network access; and green-lighting appropriate port and rail freight interchange developments. Water freight access must also be protected. Grant regimes for both sea and rail freight should be maintained and enhanced. Government should also make the Longer Semi Trailer trial permanent.
51. Improving HGV enforcement - The Government and its agencies should explore options for how HGV enforcement could be intelligently enhanced, even at the cost of increased fees to our industry if justified by improved outcomes.
52. Automatic notification of status of HGV drivers’ licence - DVLA should develop the driving licence system to allow drivers to make voluntary, time-limited mandates to allow push notifications of changes to their driving licence status to be sent to employers. 
53. Improving Road Surfaces - Government should task highway authorities with the development of programmes to ensure road surface condition is safe; this would not only reduce incidents but encourage drivers to drive responsibly.  Once that programme was in place it would then be government responsibility to ensure that improvements are made.
54. Improving Van safety - The Government should reconsider the test fee structure to include disproportionately loading of the re-test fee as an effective way of rewarding those intent on compliance whilst potentially increasing the funding stream.  FTA also calls on Government to collect the windfall from fees for historical drivers’ hours offences to be reinvested into road safety – particularly focussing upon the poorly funded van sector. 
55. Adequate rest facilities on the Strategic Road Network - Government must provide a national overarching approach to lorry parking which provides guidance to councils, planners and developers and ensures that highway authorities are provided with support for the development of new, and improvement of existing roadside facilities for drivers.
56. Enforcement of Smart Motorways - Government, in particular the Home Office, needs to recognise the need to work with the road authorities to resolve enforcement of smart motorway violations. FTA also calls on Government departments to work together to ensure sufficient resource is available for roads policing.
57. Enhanced HGV voluntary/procurement standards and practices - The Government should retain control of safety regulations for HGVs and vans to avoid local patchwork requirements across the UK.
58. Regional Regulation: the London Direct Vision Standard - DfT should support and encourage the national roll-out of technological safety devices on HGVs, instead of the issue being left to local authorities who might, as in the case of London, pursue expensive schemes of limited benefit.

April 2019

Annex

HGVs: description of the Regulatory Regime

The heavy commercial vehicle sector is highly regulated in areas including roadworthiness of vehicles, driving, work and rest times, overloading and safe loading of vehicles, and driver licensing and training. 

Road safety enforcement is led by a dedicated enforcement agency – the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) – who conduct a vehicle’s annual road worthiness test (from year one rather than year three as for cars) and who stop commercial vehicles at the roadside to perform spot checks, issue fines and can mount prosecutions; significant road safety infringements detected will result in a vehicle being immobilised until it is declared safe. 

The sector is also subject to additional corporate regulation through the Operator Licensing system which extends the responsibilities in law for complying with the road safety laws to the directors of companies which operate the vehicles.  The licensing system is regulated by the Traffic Commissioners who can, and do, take unsafe operators off the road; in 2017-18 the Traffic Commissioners revoked 261 licences and suspended 104, and they permanently disqualified 82 individuals from being director of a company which operates heavy commercial vehicles. 

In addition to the statutory annual test and roadside checks, commercial vehicle operators are themselves expected to implement a stringent mechanical safety system which includes every truck being subjected to a safety inspection to a standard higher than the annual test every 6-8 weeks in most cases, and also requires that a driver conducts a visual inspection around the vehicle at the start of each day. 

To drive a vehicle greater than 3.5t a driver must take and pass an additional driving test after holding a Category B (car) licence, and a further test must be passed in order to drive heavy articulated vehicles.  This means that, unlike the vast majority of Britain’s drivers, almost all vocational drivers have been subject to driving instruction after a reasonable period of independent driving experience.  Vocational licence holders are also subject to the Driver Certificate of Professional Competence which includes the requirement to undertake at least 35 hours of professional development training every 5 years.