Industry News

Plan now for Olympics

February 23, 2012 Motor Transport

This summer it won’t be business as usual for the road transport industry. The world’s biggest sporting event is hitting UK shores on 27 July and bringing with it a host of traffic restrictions and road closures that will result in changes to delivery patterns and the way you normally operate. If you don’t think the Olympics are going to affect you or your customers, think again. Even if you don’t have any customers based on the Olympic Route Network […]

Operators urged to cut carbon

February 23, 2012 Motor Transport

The FTA has urged operators to join its Logistics Carbon Reduction Scheme (LCRS) to strengthen its efforts to avoid government action over commercial vehicle emissions. Evidence from the scheme, which published its second annual report this week, will be submitted to the DfT’s Freight Review later this year. The FTA hopes the evidence will convince the review – which is looking at the efforts the sector is making to cut emissions – that there is no need to regulate to […]

Cabotage deal in the offing

February 23, 2012 Motor Transport

UK and Irish governments are set to meet next month to discuss cabotage regulations after intense lobbying from Irish hauliers. For years hauliers in both countries have delivered trailers to ports, where they were collected for inward delivery by a driver working in that country. This practice falls foul of cabotage rules introduced in 2010 which say that an international driver can only carry out three domestic jobs within seven days once he has delivered his load. The dropped trailers […]

Buyers’ guides now on commercialmotor.com

February 23, 2012 Motor Transport

“Challenging.” That seems to the euphemistic description for the tough economic times in which we find ourselves. Capital budgets are being cut to the bone – and then trimmed some more. That’s where our series of free buyers’ guides on Commercialmotor.com will come in handy. We aim to cut a route through the purchasing jungle to find the shortest path to the wisest buys. From AdBlue to yard counterbalance trucks, throughout the year we will look at buying the products […]

Attracting and retaining talent remains key concern for logistics bosses

February 23, 2012 Motor Transport

Almost three-quarters (72%) of transport and logistics bosses plan to overhaul how they manage the talent within their companies in response to the skills crisis. Sector analysis of PricewaterhouseCooper’s (PwC) 15th Annual Global CEO Survey reveals that attracting and keeping hold of talent is a significant concern for most bosses within road transport. Approaching half (45%) of the 98 transport bosses surveyed label the struggle to attract new workers as a “major threat” to the long term viability of their […]

ATF fees reform “not enough”

February 23, 2012 Motor Transport

Stan Robinson says VOSA’s new MoT test fee structure, which will make it financially more attractive for hauliers to use private test facilities, has “not gone far enough”. The organisation confirmed that from 1 April, HGV annual test fees at authorised testing facilities (ATFs) and designated premises (DPs) will go down, while those at its official test stations will increase. Currently, the cost of testing a two axle truck at every test centre is £95. However, from the start of […]

Industry News

Imperial purchases four Watts Truck Centre sites in West Country

February 12, 2012 Motor Transport

Imperial Commercials expands its operation with a share acquisition of four sites belonging to DAF Trucks dealer Watts Truck Centre.