Logistics UK calls for national shake up of road policing

Monday 05 October 2020

Roads policing should be governed and administered at a nationwide level so that the application of roads policing is consistent across the whole network, according to Logistics UK, the business group representing the logistics sector.  James Firth, Head of Road Freight Regulation Policy at Logistics UK, speaks in response to the joint Home Office-Department for Transport’s Review of Roads Policing:

“Logistics UK is calling for the government to establish common, unified road safety objectives which all enforcement bodies are committed to achieving and that are governed and administered at a national level. Road transport is a national industry which does not recognise regional boundaries; the expectation of road users is that roads policing will be exercised in a uniform way across the country, including devolved administrations.

Logistics UK is also calling for the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) to take the lead on the enforcement of commercial vehicle road safety with respect to driver fatigue and vehicle maintenance to ensure enforcement bodies are not operating in silos, duplicating efforts, or using their resources otherwise inefficiently, as Mr Firth explains:

“This approach would help to focus enforcement resources on where it is needed most: on the seriously and serially non-compliant. Expensive roadside resources should be focussed on those who pose the greatest risk to road safety, and operators and businesses identified as compliant and posing a low risk by DVSA should not be operationally and economically inconvenienced by invasive interventions, such as roadside stops.”

In its response to the Roads Policing Review, Logistics UK is also calling for support for businesses in managing drink and drug risks and police forces being given performance indicators for re-opening of roads when closed after incidents. 

Logistics UK (formerly FTA) is one of the UK’s leading business groups, representing logistics businesses which are vital to keeping the UK trading, and more than seven million people directly employed in the making, selling and moving of goods. With COVID-19, Brexit, new technology and other disruptive forces driving change in the way goods move across borders and through the supply chain, logistics has never been more important to UK plc. Logistics UK supports, shapes and stands up for safe and efficient logistics, and is the only business group which represents the whole industry, with members from the road, rail, sea and air industries, as well as the buyers of freight services such as retailers and manufacturers whose businesses depend on the efficient movement of goods.