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

  • FTA Ireland wants tougher roadside enforcement to match new traffic laws
    February 21, 2014
    FTA Ireland has said it would like to see the proposed new traffic laws matched with an increased resource for roadside enforcement by the Gardai. The response from FTAI followed the announcement of the Road Traffic No.2 Act 2013, introduced to improve safety levels on Irish roads, outlined by Minister for Transport, Tourism & Sport Leo Varadkar earlier this week. The new traffic laws will include roadside impairment tests for drug driving; higher penalty points for speeding, mobile phone use and not we
  • Drivers with up to 42 points still on the road
    September 5, 2013
    New figures from the UK Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) have revealed that motorists with up to 42 penalty points on their licence are still driving on Britain’s roads. Drivers can be banned from the road if they accumulate 12 points on their licence over a three-year period, but there are 8,000 drivers still getting behind the wheel despite having reached or exceeded that number.
  • Infrastructure funding and road user charging – debate continues
    February 1, 2012
    Jack Opiola provides an overview of the ongoing debate over US infrastructure funding and the progress – or lack of it – towards vehicles miles travelled road user charging. The future funding of transportation and mobility infrastructure is attracting increased attention. There has been sharp debate in the US, where landmark reports from the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission and the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission both stated that the cu
  • Transportation hub the centre of sustainable urban development
    November 21, 2012
    A marriage of transit, technology and culture is taking shape in Minneapolis, with ITS systems vital to hopes for a sustainable development centred on a hub of public transportation. Construction started in July this year on ‘The Interchange’ – a station in the Midwest US city of Minneapolis claimed as the most spectacular expression yet of the fast-spreading North American concept of transit-oriented development (TOD). Due for completion in 2014, the Interchange is designed as a multi-modal public transpor