O-licensing in Northern Ireland: FTA welcomes clearance of latest hurdle

Wednesday 11 November 2009

Improved road safety and fairer competition in Northern Ireland took a step closer to realisation yesterday when the Goods Vehicle (Operator Licensing) Bill passed the Consideration stage. The Freight Transport Association has led the campaign to bring O-Licensing to Northern Ireland and eagerly anticipates the Royal Assent of the Bill, which is expected in mid-December.

Tom Wilson, FTA's Head of Policy for Northern Ireland, said:

“The Bill is making good progress and FTA is pleased that everything has been voted through this formal Consideration Stage. O-licensing will improve the overall safety standards of all commercial vehicles on our roads, making the roads safer for all road users and applying the same standards operators face in the rest of the UK.”

FTA played host to Minister for the Environment, Edwin Poots, when he announced plans to introduce legislation covering O-licensing for Northern Ireland’s commercial road transport industry at the leading trade body’s Transport Manager seminar last month.

Notes for editors

In 2007, across Northern Ireland, 26,267 vehicles were presented for testing at the Driver and Vehicle Agency testing stations. Of these, 45.4 per cent of four-axle rigid vehicles, 37.3 per cent of rigid vehicles, 32.2 per cent of articulated lorries and 26.1 per cent of trailers failed their roadworthiness tests.
 

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