One operator, one licence

In my last article, I sparked a debate about licence fees, and many favoured a fee review and paying more for a better service. Sitting alongside this is whether we still need administrative traffic areas. We all know that boundaries and borders delay vehicles when transport operates 24/7, 365 days a year.

Goods and passengers are constantly delayed by red tape as operators navigate the relentless maze of bureaucracy. We know about delays at ports and airports when red tape takes over and we sympathise with hauliers and coach operators as time-critical delays of fresh food become worthless and passengers are taken to hotels as they cannot spend any longer on the road with no facilities.

But what about the delays, extra costs and red tape caused by still having traffic areas? In a former life as senior traffic commissioner, I always said (and do still say) that operator licensing is not there for reasons of red tape – it is there to promote road safety and fair competition. But I also said that having eight traffic areas in Great Britain was nonsense. Why should an operator have to apply for a separate licence in each traffic area when they have a licence to operate their vehicles in Great Britain or internationally? No one sees the delay and cost implications of this on the national news.

No complaints

This might be because Great British operators do what they always do best – getting on with the task in hand, delivering for the benefit of Great Britain without complaining and without asking “Why?”; Without asking “Please may we stop this nonsense?”; Without asking “Please may we just have one licence in Great Britain to operate?”

Reform of the system is easy. We can still have eight traffic commissioners and apply to them – just as we do now – if we want to operate in Lancashire and Lincolnshire. We can still close our Conwy depot and open a new one in Caithness if the TC agrees we can move from Wales to Scotland – just as we do now. We really don’t need to apply for a whole new licence again to do this.

If the TC trusts us to operate safely and have enough money to maintain our fleet in Lancaster, then surely, they must trust us to do the same if we move to Lincoln. We don’t lose our minds and our money or throw our maintenance planners and tachograph analysis contracts out of the window as we move across the M62, down the M1, and across the A57 do we?

So why must we have another whole new licence? Why can’t we just vary the existing one? Change it, make it bigger or smaller. Add or remove depots. Still pay a fee and still advertise in the local paper for the new depot – just as we do now. But there is no need for another licence. The DfT might not like it. They would have to change the law. But that’s not hard – after all that’s their job, isn’t it?

Fight the cause

My message to the Great British transport sector is clear – please don’t accept eight traffic areas anymore. Ask the DfT, your MPs and your trade associations to stop this nonsense. Campaign for one licence for each operator – not up to eight. Quicker, easier and less red tape. What’s not to like?

Time for me to stop writing and get campaigning. I have said enough and made my point. I think you can tell how strongly I feel about it. Time to buy a placard and march up and down Parliament Square shouting “One operator, one licence”. Anybody like to join me?

■ Beverley Bell CBE, director, Beverley Bell Consulting