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QUICK GUIDE TO THE DECEMBER 2011 REGULATIONS
Here is a brief rundown on the main points of the new regulations which come into effect on the 4th December 2011.
Registered Address
Operators may no longer use PO Box addresses or third party addresses (such as accountant’s or consultant’s offices) for their correspondence address. The correspondence address recorded at the Traffic Area Office must be the address of your main office or at least premises under your control.
Financial Standing
For standard licences the required amounts for financial standing will be updated annually from now on (previously updated every 5 years).
A calculation will be made on the 1st October each year based on the exchange rate on that day of 9,000 euros for the first vehicle and 5,000 euros for additional vehicles. The amounts calculated on that day will then become effective on the following 1st January.
The amounts coming into effect on the 1st January 2012 are marginally lower than current amounts. For standard licences they are :
First vehicle : £7,700 (down from £8,100)
Additional vehicles : £4,200 (down from £4,500)
Amounts required for restricted licences remain the same at £3,100 for the first vehicle and £1,700 for each additional one.
Professional Standing and Grandfather Rights
Only those who currently have grandfather rights are able to apply for the TMAR and must do so before the 4th December 2013 otherwise the right will be lost.
To qualify for the TMAR you must be able to demonstrate that in the 10 year period leading up to the 4th December 2009 you were continuously employed as a transport manager. There is some discretion to take account of temporary breaks such as for illness or maternity leave.
Transport Manager Responsibilities
An internal transport manager is someone employed by an operator as their transport manager.
An external transport manager is one who is not under a contract of employment with an operator and might commonly be the transport manager for other operators as well.
External transport managers will be subject to what is called the 4/50 rule. The 40/50 rules is that an external transport manager can only be nominated on a maximum of four licences and is limited to responsibility for a maximum of 50 vehicles.
An additional requirement from the EC rules is that external transport managers must have a contract which specifies the tasks they must perform and sets out their responsibilities as transport manager.
Disqualification for Transport Managers
For the first time Traffic Commissioner will have the power to disqualify a transport manager. Where a transport manager is deemed to have lost his or her good repute the Traffic Commissioner is obliged to order disqualification either indefinitely or for a period of time.
To balance this out though, transport managers will have the right to lodge an appeal against a decision of the TC. Up to now the TC has had the power to take away a transport manager’s good repute (effectively putting them out of work) without the transport manager having any right of appeal.
An Article Produced in December 2011
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