COVID-19 - IMPORTANT GUIDANCE
What you should do:
Although Public Inquiries are currently being postponed in some Traffic areas and the Lord Chief Justice has indicated that all Jury trials listed for 3 days or more will be adjourned, we are still here to offer clients assistance if they have ongoing matters to resolve.
Working remotely with the benefit of Skype and the good old-fashioned telephone, we are on hand to answer any queries you may have during this difficult time.
i) Sign up to Alerts
At the moment important updates are being sent via daily updates. These are important and will affect your business. Ensure that you are signed up by following links:
DVSA Moving On - Sign up by going to the following webpage:
https://movingon.blog.gov.uk/subscribe/
Traffic Commissioners Alerts - If you go to the following webpage you can sign up:
https://www.gov.uk/email-signup?link=/government/organisations/traffic-commissioners
ii) Consider a Risk Assessment of your Current Processes
It is obviously in everyone’s interests to keep goods moving, but clients will need some re-assurance that this is going to be done safely.
Over the next weeks and months, the restricted movement of people is likely to place an increasing burden on our economy and the movement of goods. Operators may wish to re-assure their customers that their current processes have been risk assessed and hygiene increased with ‘human ‘contact kept to a minimum.
A good starting point is establishing a clear policy setting out what you expect all staff to do, which includes when you expect them to stay at home. Simple measures like taking their temperature before leaving for work can minimise the risk for others.
iii) Financial Standing
Another potential issue faced by Operators is financial levels. Please bear in mind that if you are no longer able to show access to the required level of resource for the number of trucks you have, you may have to apply to the Commissioner for a period of grace.
In the Statutory Document released yesterday by the Senior Traffic Commissioner, he has indicated that Traffic Commissioners will take a more flexible approach to this but Operators must pro actively apply using the Guidance. This is something we can help with.
There are a number of other concessions made in relation to Operating Centres, interim licences, bus registrations and attendance at hearings. Please read our separate article on this and follow the link for the full document.
iiii) Time to Catch Up
We are considering uploading some videos to our ‘You Tube’ page so we can all catch up on things we might have missed in the last year!
Requests so far include:
• Whistlestop tour of the Guide to Maintaining Roadworthiness
• IR35- Do I need to employ all my drivers?
• Brake Testing- what does the Traffic Commissioner expect?
Please let us have any other requests so we can put something together and make use of this time at our desks to help you!
With best wishes to all of our clients and their families. We hope that you stay well and stay safe.
Carolyn Evans Principal Solicitor | CE Transport Law Clair McCarthy Consultant Solicitor | CE Transport Law