Skip to main content

UK vehicle agency introduces remote enforcement

The UK Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) is to introduce remote enforcement for more compliant transport operators. The remote enforcement office (REO) will be tested by VOSA in an initial six month trial scheduled to start in October.
September 17, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
The UK Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) is to introduce remote enforcement for more compliant transport operators.  The remote enforcement office (REO) will be tested by VOSA in an initial six month trial scheduled to start in October.

VOSA examiners currently visit an operator’s premises to inspect vehicles; the REO will request relevant information to be sent to its office where it will be reviewed and recommendations made to the operator.

According to VOSA, introducing an efficient, less burdensome method for dealing with the more compliant operators will release resources to target the serious/serially non-compliant operator. The more encounters a non-compliant operator has the greater the cost to their operation, thus removing any competitive advantage by running a non-compliant operation.

VOSA will use an operator’s history of compliance to identify those most suitable for this approach and will monitor data from these operators to ensure they remain complaint.

Commenting after the recent Freight Transport Association Transport Manager Conference, VOSA’s Richard Denby said: “VOSA has been listening to feedback from the industry and the Trade Associations, especially the FTA and are looking to change the way we deliver enforcement. We want compliance to equal good business value, and to ensure that a non compliant operator does not have a competitive edge over a compliant operator and cannot have a greater profit margin than a compliant operator. We want a level playing field so that non compliant operators cannot unfairly bid for contracts above a compliant operator.”

Related Content

  • Enforcement a key part of the road safety solution
    January 31, 2012
    The Partnership for Advancing Road Safety is a new organisation set up in the US to push the national debate on speed and intersection safety, something which hitherto has been absent. Here, executive director David Kelly explains the organisation's work. With moves to address drink/drug driving and the wearing of seatbelts starting to prove successful in the US, the use of inappropriate speed and poor driving at intersections have become responsible for a proportionately greater number of the deaths and in
  • How safe are smart motorways?
    March 3, 2020
    A valiant attempt to ease the UK’s congested strategic road system? Or an idea that should never have seen the light of day? Alan Dron reports on the controversy over smart motorways...
  • Air quality tops transportation agendas
    November 17, 2014
    Colin Sowman catches up on some of the latest research around outdoor pollution and looks at options available to authorities in areas of poor air quality. Iair quality hasn’t already reached the top of the agenda in transportation department meetings in your area, it probably soon will with national, trans-national and even global bodies calling for authorities to reduce pollution levels.
  • Rapid growth of bus rapid transit schemes on US Pacific coast
    January 27, 2012
    This section pulls together all the multi-modal topics in each issue. Subject matter will include smartcards; ticketing and payment systems; passenger information systems; fleet management for buses, trains and light rail; park and ride systems; on-line access to real-time information via Internet portals