Road transport Red Tape Challenge
Consultation for all road users, businesses, and local authorities on rules and regulations they would like scrapped or simplified .
The Red Tape Challenge is a government-wide process to get rid of unnecessary, burdensome and overcomplicated regulation.
Earlier this year, every secondary regulation relating to road transportation was put forward for discussion.
As a result of suggestions from the public the department is proposing to scrap, merge, simplify, amend or improve 142 (well over a third) of these regulations. Amongst the measures being pursued are:
- scrapping the regulation requiring motorists to hold a paper counterpart to their driving licence by 2015 - saving drivers up to £8 million
- improving the regulation surrounding the notification process for vehicles that are not in use on the road (Statutory Off Road Notification or SORN) - once drivers have notified the DVLA that their vehicle is SORN, they will no longer have the burden of annual SORN renewal
- only issuing hard-copies of V5C vehicle registration certificates for fleet operators when needed (with the potential to offer the same to private motorists)
- introducing a limited exemption from drivers’ hours rules so that those who also drive as Territorial Army reservists in their own time can continue to do so
The challenge also considered various measures that are not based in legislation and examined pieces of primary legislation that can be amended or simplified. Other proposals include:
- removing the need for an insurance certificate - the Department for Transport will work with the insurance industry on removing the need for motorists to have to hold an insurance certificate
- abolishing the requirement for drivers to prove they have insurance when applying for tax, meaning 600,000 more people will be able to tax their car online - this has been made possible by new checks of existing databases for insurance under new continuous insurance enforcement rules (the DVLA’s records are now compared regularly with the Motor Insurance Database (MID) to identify registered keepers of vehicles that appear to have no insurance)
- we will look at experience in other countries on driver certificates of professional competence (CPC) - the qualification for professional bus, coach and lorry drivers - in particular, to see if we could remove the need for some sectors, such as farmers who drive stock to market, from needing a CPC
- local authorities will now have to ensure business interests are properly considered as part of any future proposed workplace parking levy scheme - they must show they have properly and effectively consulted local businesses, have addressed any proper concerns raised and secured support from the local business community
- abolishing the regulations on the treatment of lost property on buses - bus companies currently have to wait 48 hours before they can throw away perishable items left on the bus
- Government slashes motoring red tape press notice, 15 December 2011
- Red Tape Challenge reform of road transport regulations written ministerial statement by the Secretary of State for Transport, 15 December 2011
Road transportation is only one of the themes in the government’s Red Tape Challenge.
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