Conference speakers

Transport Manager Programme

 

Traffic Commissioners

 

Kevin Rooney, Traffic Commissioner for the West of England 

kevin-rooney.jpgKevin Rooney joined the Department for Transport to develop vehicle safety policy before moving to the Transport Research Laboratory and then to the Vehicle Certification Agency. 

Kevin Rooney was appointed as Traffic Commissioner for the West of England in January 2012. 

Kevin worked at the Vehicle Inspectorate and Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA), managing the introduction of the first MOT emission tests, diesel smoke tests and led the programme to upgrade VOSA’s enforcement processes. He has also worked as a road safety consultant to new EU member states and neighbouring countries and set up an EU project to agree minimum training levels for control officers. 

Kevin was a founder Director of the Confederation of Organisations in Road Transport Enforcement which has members from over 30 countries. 

 

Tim Blackmore OBE, Traffic Commissioner for the North East of England 

Tim-Blackmore-photo.jpgTim Blackmore was commissioned into the Royal Corps of Transport in 1992 after graduating from the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. He was promoted to Colonel in 2014 and assumed the role of the Head of British Forces Post Office. He is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Transport and Logistics and the Chartered Management Institute. 

Tim Blackmore OBE was appointed as Traffic Commissioner for the North East of England in May 2017. 

As a young officer, Tim saw numerous operational deployments in the Balkans. In 1999, he assumed the appointment of Adjutant of 10 Queen’s Own Gurkha Transport Regiment. In 2002, he completed an MSc in Defence Technology and Applied Sciences. He subsequently commanded 14 Transport Squadron and later 10 The Queen’s Own Gurkha Logistic Regiment, having been promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. Tim saw operational deployments to Afghanistan during both of these commands. He was awarded the OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 2014. 

 

Gerallt Evans, Traffic Commissioner for the North West of England 

Gerallt-Evans-photo.jpgGerallt Evans was Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service in Wales prior to his appointment as Traffic Commissioner. Gerallt Evans was appointed as Traffic Commissioner for the North West of England in February 2020. 

Gerallt worked in private practice in North Wales after qualifying as a solicitor. He joined the Crown Prosecution Service in 1992 and worked as a frontline prosecutor dealing with the full range of criminal prosecution work before moving into management roles. In 2014, Gerallt was appointed Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS London with responsibility for all Magistrates’ Court and domestic abuse prosecutions throughout the capital. Three years later he returned to Wales in the same role. During his career at the CPS, Gerallt was involved in developing policy on prosecuting road traffic cases as well as acting as a national lead on prosecuting hate crimes and wildlife and heritage crime. Gerallt was also involved in various projects to improve the efficiency of the criminal justice system including the introduction of digital working. 

 

Richard Turfitt, Traffic Commissioner for the East of England and Senior Traffic Commissioner

Richard-Turfitt-photo.jpgRichard Turfitt joined the Health and Safety Executive in 1999 and helped establish their Litigation and Enforcement Advisory team. Richard helped to found the Health and Safety Lawyers’ Association and is a serving Justice of the Peace. 

Richard Turfitt was appointed as Traffic Commissioner for the East of England in May 2008. Richard was appointed Senior Traffic Commissioner in June 2017. 

Richard left independent practice in 1997 to prosecute on behalf of the Departments of Social Security and Health. In 1998 he moved to the Treasury Solicitor’s Department to undertake personal injury litigation. He was also responsible for managing the representation of the Prison Service at inquests throughout England and Wales. 

 

Claire Gilmore, Traffic Commissoner for Scotland 

Claire-Gilmore-photo.jpgClaire Gilmore was the Senior Investigating Officer in the Office of the Ethical Standards Commissioner in Scotland until her appointment as Traffic Commissioner. 

Claire Gilmore was appointed as Traffic Commissioner for Scotland in February 2019. 

Claire is a solicitor who has specialised in litigation for most of her career. Prior to taking up the role of Senior Investigating Officer, Claire worked primarily in government legal services where she developed particular expertise in regulatory litigation, including licensing and public inquiries. 

Claire was a Director of NHS Ayrshire and Arran and a Member of the South Ayrshire Health and Social Care Integration Joint Board from 2014 until 2018. She is also a qualified engineer and spent the early part of her career working for the Ministry of Defence. 

 

Sarah Bell, Traffic Commissioner for London and the South East 

Sarah-Bell-photo.jpgSarah Bell was made a partner at Moore & Blatch Solicitors in May 2003. She headed up the marine department and co-headed the regulatory department. 

Sarah Bell was appointed as Traffic Commissioner for London and the South East of England in June 2007. 

From 1999 until 2007, Sarah worked representing the interests of haulage operators, their directors and drivers in the criminal courts, at public inquiries before traffic commissioners and the Upper Tribunal. She also prosecuted complex cases for the Health & Safety Executive. 

 

Victoria Davies, Traffic Commissioner for Wales

Victoria-Davies-photo.jpgVictoria Davies was the senior lawyer managing the Legal Transport Team at the Welsh Government until her appointment as Traffic Commissioner. 

Victoria Davies was appointed as the Traffic Commissioner for Wales in February 2020. 

Victoria has over 25 years legal experience as a government and regulatory lawyer.  She worked as a senior advisory lawyer at the Welsh Government for ten years.  Before that, Victoria spent eight years working for DfT as a senior lawyer for various divisions, including the Road Transport Advisory Division.  Victoria has also worked in the advisory and litigation teams of the Health and Safety Executive Solicitor’s Office, and as a procurator fiscal depute prosecuting criminal cases in Scotland. 

 

Miles Dorrington, Traffic Commissioner for the West Midlands

Miles-kentico.pngMiles Dorrington is a dual qualified Barrister and Solicitor who has been a Deputy Traffic Commissioner since 2008. He also sits as an appeal Judge in the First Tier Tribunal within the Immigration and Asylum Chamber and as a Judge in the Social Entitlement Chamber.

He was appointed as Acting Traffic Commissioner for the West Midlands from 22 August 2022 and as a permanent Traffic Commissioner in March 2023.

 

Speakers

 

David Wells, Chief Executive, Logistics UK

David is Chief Executive of Logistics UK, one of the biggest business groups in the UK, and the only organisation which represents all of logistics. With more than 18,000 members from the road, rail, sea and air industries, as well as the buyers of freight services such as retailers and manufacturers, the members of Logistics UK operate more than half of the UK fleet of HGVs, and consign over 90% of freight moved by rail, and 70% of air and sea freight.

David joined Logistics UK in April 2009 as Finance and IT Director, subsequently taking on additional responsibility for the Vehicle Inspection Service and Training and Tachograph Analysis Service. David became Chief Executive in early 2015 and since then has seen membership grow by 10%. Having completed an engineering degree in Liverpool, David studied for membership of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, qualifying in November 1993 whilst working in industry. His career has centred around engineering and service businesses and has both European and North American finance and 
operations experience. 

 

Chris Lipscomb, Director of Operations, Logistics UK

Chris joined the Logistics UK in December 2018 with over 25 years of operational leadership experience gained across manufacturing, supply chain and transport management. 

During this time Chris has worked for a number of household name multinational food manufacturers, PepsiCo and Mars, as well as a number of family owned and run SME’s in the food and chemical supply industry. 

Chris is a graduate of Heriot- Watt University, Edinburgh, where he studied Microbiology. 

 

Kate Jennings, Director of Policy, Logistics UK 

Kate-Jennings-photo.jpegKate joined Logistics UK as Policy Director in June 2022. 

Kate started her career in the civil service, first in the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, including a posting to Beijing working on the handover of Hong Kong. She subsequently worked in the Cabinet Office on the Better Regulation agenda, leading the secretariat for a PM-chaired committee which challenged Government to ensure regulation minimised costs on business.  

Kate worked in the Department for Transport from 1990 – 2020 leading on EU and international transport policy; airport policy, airspace and passenger rights; and rail strategy including the launch of the Williams Rail Review.  Most recently her responsibilities included policy on rail devolution, investment, workforce, and freight in addition to engagement with industry clients including Network Rail and the Rail Delivery Group. From December 2019 to February 2020, Kate worked on the development of transport policy for EU exit. 

From 2020 – June 2022 Kate was Policy Director at the Railway Industry Association (RIA) – leading on coronavirus response, strategic engagement and diversity including the launch of the RIA Women in Rail Diversity and Inclusion Charter.   

 

Martin Candish, Head of Compliance Information, Logistics UK 

Martin-Candish.jpegMartin Candish IEng MSOE MIRTE – Head of Compliance Information 

Martin is responsible for Logistics UK’s compliance information output and the member advice centre.  He has worked for Logistics UK since 2003, with previous roles within the vehicle inspection service starting as area engineer, then team manager, and latterly technical manager. 

A time-served vehicle engineer working in both fleet and dealer environments, he has also worked as a technical officer for DVSA.  In parallel to this, Martin served 13 years as a vehicle mechanic in the Army Reserve, including operational service, and is currently a serving firefighter for Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue. 

He has many years of technical, operational, and managerial experience with lots of practical knowledge gained from across the logistics industry. 

 

Phil Lloyd, Head of Engineering Policy, Logistics UK 

Phil-Lloyd-New-Headshot.jpegPhil has been the Logistics UK’s Head of Engineering Policy, taking up the role in June 2018, having spent most of his career working for the Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA). He served his apprenticeship in Motor Vehicle Engineering in Manchester and joined what is now DVSA as a vehicle examiner, spending over 30 years with them in a wide range of operational roles, including Auditing, Training and vehicle certification.  For the last 13 of his years with DVSA Phil held a variety of senior management positions including; Head of Operations, Head of Policy, Head of Strategy & Planning and Head of Transformation, over that time leading the implementation of their Testing Transformation project, developing their Roadside Enforcement Strategy. Before joining the Logistics UK Phil was a self-employed contractor, providing technical training for MOT testers and consultancy to the Authorised Testing Facilities Operators Association (ATFOA); designing and developing a testing solutions strategy, which was supported by the Logistics UK as well as the other main Transport Trade Associations. 

 

Chris Yarsley, Road Freight Regulation Policy Manager 

Chris-Yarsley-photo-1.jpgChris Yarsley is Logistics UK’s Road Freight Regulation Policy Manager with responsibilities for policy areas such as Drivers Hours; Driver CPC; FORS governance. He leads on the Association’s relationships with the Department for Transport and DVSA. Until recently, he was the lead policy manager for members in Wales, the Southwest and the Midlands. 

 

 

 

 

 

James Ashford, National Manager of UK Connected Services, Brigade Electronics 

JAMES-ASHFORD-1-1.pngJames Ashford is a vehicle safety influencer who regularly speaks about compliance issues including the Direct Vision Standard. James works with clients across a range of transport sectors, helping them to develop their safety operations and ensure vehicle fleets are fitted with the latest technology to aid in the prevention of collisions. 

Whilst Safety is in the lifeblood of Brigade Electronics, in his role of Head of Connected Services, James pioneers the Internet of Things (IoT) to combine camera technology, machine learning AI and telematics to provide Fleet Operators with a truly "connected" eco-system that provides real-time information to improve operations, efficiencies & road safety.

 

Chris Powell, Road Transport Regulatory Lawyer, Weightmans LLP

Chris-Powell.jpgChris advises goods vehicle and passenger transport operator licence holders on all aspects of transport regulation.  

Chris's areas of expertise include:

  • Representing transport businesses involved in proceedings before the Traffic Commissioner.
  • Assisting companies undergoing DVSA investigation and prosecution, including interviews under caution and desk-based assessment audits.
  • Advising operator licence holders on all aspects of regulatory compliance.  
  • Delivering strategic advice, training and support to transport managers, directors and fleet professionals.

 

David Adams, Scottish barrister, Compass Chambers Edinburgh

David-adams-kentico.pngDavid’s practice focuses on crime, fatal accident and public inquiries, firearms licensing, road traffic prosecutions and road transport licensing. He also has experience of commercial disputes, insolvency, medical and professional negligence. 

David has appeared in Fatal Accident Inquiries, proofs and trials in the High Court and Sheriff Courts throughout Scotland. David also has experience in conviction and sentence appeals, both acting alone or with a leader. 

David has appeared before local authority licensing boards and the Traffic Commissioner for Scotland in several public inquiries relating to HGV and PSV operator licences as well as driver conduct hearings. 

David is a member of the Faculty of Advocates’ human rights sub-committee and is a reporter for Session Cases. 

 

Denise Beedell, Public Policy Manager, Logistics UK 

Denise-Beedell-New-Headshot.jpegDenise helps to deliver Logistic UK’s urban and environmental logistics policy agenda, in particular, proactively leading Logistics UK’s policy work on vans, including publications, information services and discussion forums in connection with policy and regulatory issues. Denise joined Logistics UK in August 2018 from the Federation of Small Businesses, where she was Development Manager for Greater London and led on Transport, Environment and Crime policy issues in the capital.  

 

Michelle Gardner, Deputy Director - National & Regional Policy, Logistics UK

Michelle-Gradner-kentico-150-200-px.pngMichelle leads on policy areas including the environment, connected and autonomous vehicles and the strategic road network. Michelle has a background in both policy and public affairs and prior to joining Logistics UK, she was environmental manager at the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. Previously she worked for the British Retail Consortium, first leading on public affairs and then on employment and health and safety policy. 

 

 

 

Ray Marshall, Manager of Compliance Information, Logistics UK

Ray-kentico.pngSince joining Logistics UK in November 2018 as Senior Transport Advisor in the Member Advice Centre (MAC), Ray Marshall has completed various training courses and is now a Manager of Compliance Information. His specialism is European Road operations which includes producing Logistics UK’s monthly European Road Freight News.

Ray started off his career as a delivery driver, then swiftly moving up to gain his C+E licence which he still holds, Rays career then diverted into warehouse management and operational management for a large domestic and commercial remover.

Ray has a wealth of experience in both operational and compliance led roles and continues to use this experience when dealing with members questions and emails.

 

Tom Griffith, Manager of Compliance Information, Logistics UK

Tom-Griffith-kentico.pngTom Griffith is the expert in waste management, working as a Manager of Compliance Information in Logistics UK’s Member Advice Centre (MAC). Prior to joining Logistics UK, he worked for a national waste company and in 2020, Tom became secretary to Logistics UK’s waste forum working group, enabling members within the waste sector to share best practice and learn of the latest developments affecting the sector. Tom has also gained specialist passenger transport knowledge working with our local authority members.

Tom monitors the latest consultations and announcements that may affect Logistics UK members, produces the monthly Operator Licence Compliance Information Services updates and is responsible for the compliance information on our website.

 

Robert Saunders, Member Advice Centre Manager, Logistics UK

Rob-saunders-kentico.pngRobert Saunders’ career commenced with a five-year Motor Vehicle Technician apprenticeship, and since then he has had various roles within the road haulage industry, before joining the Freight Transport Association (FTA) in 1996 as a Vehicle Inspection Engineer. Rob progressed into the Member Advice Centre (MAC) as Manager of Engineering Information in 2014 and was promoted to MAC Manager in 2019 within Logistics UK. This role involves managing a team of highly knowledgeable advisors and compliance information managers, each with their own specialities. A particularly enjoyable aspect of this role for Rob is the opportunity to meet people within the industry and share knowledge and information.

 

Daniel Crutchington, Senior Transport Advisor, Logistics UK

Dan-Crutchington-kentico-2.pngDaniel Crutchington’s career began in a tachograph checking role, and since finishing university has had various roles in an FMCG operation, before becoming Transport Manager of a large two-man home delivery operation. Dan joined Logistics UK in February 2020 as a Senior Transport Advisor and is currently the secretary for the Utilities Services Working Group, being heavily involved in light commercial vehicles with excellent technical and systems knowledge. One of the most enjoyable aspects is being able to discuss a variety of topics every day and share information with people.

 

 

Percy Thrower, Manager of Dangerous Goods Information, Logistics UK

Percy-kentico.pngPercy Thrower initially served nine years in the armed forces which was followed with over 25 years of experience gained as a driver and progressing through to the position of a Transport Manager. Percy joined Logistics UK in April 2018 as a member of the Member Advice Centre (MAC) team. The last few years have been dedicated to building on his knowledge in relation to the transporting of Dangerous Goods across road, rail, and sea.

 

 

Becky Martin, Senior Transport Advisor, Logistics UK

Becky-Martin-kentico.pngBecky joined Logistics UK at the start of the Covid 19 pandemic in 2020, before being appointed to this role she had gained her 15 years’ experience working within retail, distribution and transport sector with her main employers being Marks and Spencer and John Lewis. “I started working in retail straight after college and have progressed my career over the years wanting to understand how the process from end to end within the Supply Chain worked. From here Becky realised that she enjoyed working within the transport area and maintaining compliance and dealing with the diverse issues that you would encounter on a day to day or minute to minute basis.

Currently within the Member Advise Centre (MAC) Becky works closely with the DVLA on licence related topics.