Laws have been put in place so that the traffic commissioners are able to regulate the use of autonomous HGVs in the future.
In their latest annual report, the TCs said trials of self-driving vehicles continued to be successful and powers were now in place for them to control their use.
The government’s Automated Vehicles (AV) Act became law earlier this year and paved the way for advanced technology to safely drive vehicles on British roads.
The department for transport said the law unlocked the potential of an industry estimated to be worth up to £42bn and creating 38,000 more skilled jobs by 2035.
The TCs said: “This legislation will implement the recommendations of the four-year review carried out by the Law Commissions of England & Wales and Scotland to set the legal framework for the safe deployment of self-driving vehicles across Great Britain.
“The commissioners will continue to monitor developments from the department for transport to see how autonomous vehicle will be regulated.”
The annual report also highlighted how the TCs were continuing to encounter hauliers who rely on ‘self-employed’ drivers rather than those on full-time contracts and against the advice of HMRC.
“Traffic Commissioners have continued to encounter operators who are unable to properly control their drivers due to the way they chose to engage them,” they said, referring to the 2019 upper tribunal decision of the haulage company Bridgestep, which used self-employed HGV drivers.
“This notable public inquiry considered a sham driver agency arrangement.
“In his decision, the traffic commissioner noted that 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.”
Other matters raised by the report included an increase in public inquiries that focused on drivers’ hours problems, with one hearing this year described by West Midlands TC Miles Dorrington as “the worst case” he had ever presided over after the operator of J. Max Transport admitted to 20 offences of knowingly making a false record and 15 offences of failing to keep a record.
They also highlighted the misunderstandings by operators about periods of grace.
“There have been numerous cases of operators failing to understand the consequences of not taking the appropriate actions following the grant of a period of grace,” the commissioners said.
In one well-publicised instance, Uttlesford district council had its licence revoked leaving almost 100,000 residents lacking a waste collection service when its period of grace passed without it appointing a transport manager.
The number of public inquiries across all traffic areas during 2023-24 was 842, with only 46 concluding with no action taken against the operator.
Nearly a third (261) resulted in revocation of the licence.
