VOSA wants to create a ‘level playing field’ for compliant van operators

Compliance costs money, and now VOSA wants to remove any unfair advantage from non-compliant van operators

VOSA (the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency) aims to make things fairer for more compliant van operators with the introduction of Remote Enforcement.

The agency has introduced the Remote Enforcement Office (REO) in the belief that the process involved for more compliant operators will be less burdensome and more effective, allowing it to target resources where they are needed more.

Currently, a VOSA examiner attends an operator’s premises. But with the REO, the agency will ask for relevant information to be sent to its office, where it will be reviewed with the necessary recommendations being made; or action taken as required.

Speaking at the recent FTA Transport Manager Conference at Brands Hatch, VOSA’s Richard Denby outlined the agency’s proposals for ‘new ways of working with the industry’, and how transport managers could apply best practice to avoid becoming targets of enforcement.

He said: “We want a level playing field so that non-compliant operators cannot unfairly bid for contracts above a compliant operator.

“We want compliance to equal good business value, and to ensure that a non-compliant operator does not have a competitive edge over a compliant operator and cannot have a greater profit margin than a compliant operator.”

The Remote Enforcement Office (REO) will be tested in an initial six-month trial which is planned to begin in October in the Western Traffic Area.

Want to know more about ‘compliance’? Click here to read about the Van Excellence scheme.