The traffic commissioners have called for the transport manager CPC qualification to be examined amid concerns it has not kept up with the technological developments and modern demands of the role.
They said transport managers had appeared before them at public inquiries in the last year who had failed in their duties – despite holding a CPC qualification.
And they urged anyone doing the job, and who had been in the role for some time, to receive up-to-date training on managing the new responsibilities they now had.
In a newly published annual report, the TCs said: “It is becoming increasingly evident that, with new technology and differing ways of working, the role has changed.
“Transport managers now need to be able to understand the implications of the technical readout they receive from tachographs and preventative maintenance inspections, as well as the employment status of their drivers.
“Traffic commissioners continue to highlight that there is a difference between obtaining a paper qualification and the ability to actually exercise effective and continuous management of a transport operation, which is the statutory requirement of a transport manager.
“The commissioners would like to see the transport manager CPC reviewed in the same way as drivers to ensure that it is fit for managing the modernisation of vehicles.”
The report also highlighted the issue of operators unable to properly control their drivers because of the way they are employed.
It said the upper tribunal had ruled on so-called self-employed drivers in a case back in 2020 but that the TCs were still encountering similar situations.
It referred to Enero Logistics, which was found to be paying drivers through an agency arrangement after previously being ordered to stop paying them through their own limited companies.
“Some operators still wrongly believe that anti-avoidance legislation does not apply and that HMRC cannot pursue workers, agents, and the operator.
“Whilst the traffic commissioners cannot rule on tax arrangements, operators and transport managers need to be able to demonstrate that they have sufficient arrangements in place to enable them to control their drivers.”
The annual report also covered an increasing number of cases regarding drivers’ hours offences, including driving without a tachograph card, altering records and using another driver’s card to avoid resting.
It said another recurring theme was misunderstandings among operators about periods of grace (PoG) and the “numerous cases” of haulage firms failing to understand the consequences of not taking appropriate action after a PoG was granted.
In January last year, Uttlesford district council in Essex had its licence revoked after its former transport manager resigned and it failed to recruit a replacement even after a PoG was granted.
The move left almost 100,000 residents without a waste collection service.
The case prompted the senior TC to issue advice to prevent other operators falling into the same situation.
