Freight Transport Conferences Aim to Sort Out Confusion for Road Haulage Operators

UK – The recent decision by the government to largely place the emphasis on local authorities when it comes to cutting emissions from road transport has left confusion amongst haulage interests as to how to plan the structure of their fleets for the future. In a bid to offer guidance the next series of Freight Transport Association's (FTA) Transport Manager Conferences will attempt to steer operators in the right direction.

As was pointed out by the Road Haulage Association (RHA) prior to the government report (which we published a link to last month) the uncertainty for the future of hauliers will damage businesses. The RHA said restricting the truck fleet to Euro VI in urban areas from 2020/21 will mean that the Euro V lorries between 7 and 11 years old, and which will make up 24% of the UK fleet at that time, risk bans and extra taxes that cannot be justified in the time available.

The FTA holds the same line, commenting that the proposed levies issued by urban authorities will be prohibitively high for both older HGVs and vans, whilst at the same time, London has plans that could see many HGVs banned from the capital for having insufficient direct vision. All this will offer little comfort to smaller hauliers particularly, but every operator will certainly need to understand how the regulations, liable to be a hotchpotch of geographically designated rules, will affect their normal operations, and what they should be doing now to plan the right strategy.

The FTA’s Transport Manager Conferences, sponsored by Iveco, will brief this autumn on this topic, offering the latest information about what will happen where, which vehicles will be affected, and how best to plan for them. The Government has named 32 local authorities across England that have to take further action on air quality, but it is a complicated picture as to which of these will result in a charging zone affecting commercial vehicles. The session will set out FTA’s insight as to where and when charges can be expected.

The session will also brief on the effects of the aforementioned London Direct Vision Standard, which could see more than half the 12 tonne+ HGVs that currently visit London, banned completely in 2020. Headline sponsor, Iveco, will give a vehicle manufacturer’s perspective on the subject in a forum at which Brigade Electronics and Goodyear Tyres will also be represented.

These conferences have run for over two decades and the sessions also provide an opportunity for delegates to hear direct from the Traffic Commissioner, and will cover topics including enforcement priorities and roadside stops, apprenticeships and skills, employment law, preventing vehicle use in terrorism activity and vehicle technology and in-cab cameras. Last year’s conferences saw a record attendance exceeding 1200 delegates and now five new venues, bringing the total to ten stretching from Dunblane to Yeovil, will enable even more delegates to be accommodated.

This year the conferences start in Newcastle on September 19 and conclude in Coventry on November 29 with full details available HERE or telephone 03717 11 22 22.

The cost for FTA members is £295 plus VAT for the first delegate and £265 plus VAT for subsequent delegates; for non-FTA members £395 plus VAT for the first delegate and £365 plus VAT for subsequent delegates.