Local appeal process for heavy vehicle test results to open
DVSA will introduce a local appeal process for disputed heavy vehicle annual test results on 28 February. It will include coaches and buses within its scope and enable operators to ask DVSA to review part of a test or a test result without having to lodge a statutory appeal to the Secretary of State for Transport via form VTP17.
The Agency says that introducing a local appeals process will allow it to offer a “quick review” of the decision and “provide a consistent service to all of our annual test customers.”
It remains the case that efforts should be made to discuss or resolve any issues at the time of test before a local appeal is submitted, which must be done within two working days of the test result.
Registering a local appeal against a heavy vehicle test result can be done via email or by phone to DVSA’s customer service centre. Submissions should include information related to the vehicle, its operator, the test date and location and details of the disagreement. DVSA will contact the appellant within two days of receiving the appeal. A reinspection will be arranged if required, at which point only failure items will be examined.
“We aim to complete the local appeal within five days and produce a report to indicate whether the original decision stands or a new decision has been made,” the Agency says. “The outcome will be recorded against the vehicle or trailer and sent to the person who made the appeal.”
Use of the local appeal process does not affect use of the statutory appeal mechanism, and submission of a local appeal will not affect any subsequent statutory appeal process.
First Berkshire unveils Platinum Jubilee bus
First Berkshire has unveiled a specially decorated bus to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee year. The reliveried Euro VI Wrightbus StreetLite is being utilised on route 8, which passes Windsor Castle on its way between Slough and Heathrow Airport.
The livery has been designed by First Berkshire’s marketing team in collaboration with design agency Best Impressions. It was inspired by the Platinum Jubilee logo. As well as the bus's work on route 8, it will be used for celebratory events during the rest of the Platinum Jubilee year.
Says First Berkshire Operations and Engineering Manager Mudasar Ali (pictured): “We are very proud to run services in the Royal County of Berkshire, including serving Windsor, so marking this unprecedented and very special Jubilee is important.
“Route 8 really is a royal route, so it is fitting to commission this special livery. We are very excited too about the events we’re planning for the Jubilee year.”
TruTac saves admin time for Centurion Travel; ER now in sights
Centurion Travel has revealed that it has seen a reduction in administration time by using tachograph and compliance software from TruTac, which is helping it to pursue Earned Recognition (ER) status.
The Radstock-based operator started to digitalise its tachograph operations in 2019 through TruTac's TruAnalysis passenger transport specific PSV tachograph analysis reporting system. The process was completed in September 2021 and Operations Director Steve Spiller reveals the company has since saved time on administrative tasks.
The move is allowing the company to focus on becoming a DVSA ER provider, whereby it will be recognised as meeting exemplary driver and vehicle standards. TruTac will help the operator prepare for accreditation; Centurion Travel is now running a trial with TruAnalysis to tweak its performance before submitting an application.
“Even on a small fleet like ours, (TruTac) saved a colossal amount of admin time,” says Mr Spiller. "Probably 90% of the infringements were caused by human error under the analogue system. Drivers would put down the wrong date or the wrong registration number. They would get the kilometres wrong, and we would spend hours looking for the missing ones, because the driver had just written a seven in place of a five.
"I understand why that happens. When people are having to fill out tachographs, they make simple, honest mistakes, but those mistakes can have serious ramifications for reporting."
Mr Spiller also believes that switching to a digital tachograph system has had a positive effect on drivers.
"When drivers are working with a digital system, they pay more attention to what they’re doing," he explains. "Because they’ll make an irreversible issue if they don’t. They take it more seriously, and they hold it in higher regard then they did the paper discs.
"It’s also meant we’ve not had to penalise drivers for minor errors. You don’t want your boss wrapping your knuckles on a Monday morning because you wrote the wrong figure in a box, but you can’t get it wrong with this system. It’s taken out all of those problematic elements by being simple to use."
Centurion Travel is also running driver payroll through TruTac's TruTime.