Freight industry needs ‘One-Stop-Shop’ from Government - claims FTA

Thursday 21 January 2016

The freight industry needs a single online point where logistics operators can log in to find all their Government-held transport data, is the view from the FTA.

Responding to the Government’s consultation on the Motoring Services Strategy - which covers work of DVSA, DVLA and VCA (Vehicle Certification Agency), the Freight Transport Association has called for a ‘One-Stop-Shop’ which integrates digital services and meets industry needs.

The FTA raised concerns that Government agencies still fail to consider the needs of commercial fleet operators when designing online systems, and identified at least five different points where vehicle operators had to access digital information in order to satisfy the requirements of operator licensing.

James Firth - FTA’s Head of Licensing Policy and Compliance Information said:

”The Government’s consultation bemoans the fact that uptake of online services by industry sectors has been weaker in the past than hoped. FTA members are clear – they want to use online services to interact with Government, but historically Government Agencies have failed to design systems which meet industry’s needs.”

The Association stated that the Government needs to show how it is going to deliver a “One Stop Shop” for all online services an operator needs to interact with all the motoring agencies and the Office of the Traffic Commissioners. In addition operators who have hundreds or even thousands of vehicles or drivers need to be able to interact with agencies in bulk instead of using the same one-by-one interfaces designed for the private motorist.

Mr Firth continued:

“A freight operator currently needs one login for o-licensing, a second to view their OCRS score and another to tax their vehicles. They then need to get separate access codes from every driver to see their driving licence information, and yet another code from each driver to see their Driver CPC training. The current systems makes it unnecessarily complicated when it should be so straight forward – it all has to be in one place.”

The 2012 consultation on Motoring Services resulted in the merger of VOSA and DSA to form the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency, so this process has a history of creating substantial change in the sector.
 
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