NPHTA CONTINUES TO
IMPOSSIBLE BARRIERS – SHORTAGE OF DRIVERS WHAT HAS YOUR NPHTA BEEN DOING?
NPHTA has being working tirelessly these last few months to address the problems our industry is facing – an industry that has suffered so much and is still struggling as a result of the covid pandemic.
Unlike buses, rail and aviation, OUR industry is the ONLY transport sector to receive no specific Government support and local authority grants for both operators and drivers has been limited and/or negligible in most areas of the country.
As predicted this lack of proper financial help has resulted in severe driver shortages and the closure of a number of firms ultimately impacting on public safety nationwide.
Keeping and recruiting new drivers to our industry has been further hindered by: the current implementation of Clean Air Zones forcing our trade to invest in newer more expensive vehicles; costly and lengthy licensing process- ing; as well as a number of outdated licensing conditions such as wheelchair accessible only policies together with the ongoing issue of driver safety.
In an attempt to address these issues, we have we been busy in meetings with the Department for Transport, Department of Health and Social Care and the Institute of Licensing. We have highlighted the issues in numerous interviews with national and local newspapers and both the BBC and ITV news channels.
We have also had discussions with HMRC regarding the introduction of Tax Conditionality and we are hosting a webinar on 14 January with Gary Jacobs, Director of Eazitax, who will be answering any questions you may have regarding this topic.
MEASURES TO HELP RECRUIT DRIVERS
At the Institute of Licensing Training Conference, the NPHTA and other stakeholders were asked to present their views and suggestions regarding the shortage of drivers, the delays on licence applications, and what could be done to help and support our industry.
We suggested a variety of measures including a staggered approach for new applicants, specifically that the DBS
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could be completed, and then an application submitted in advance for a “preliminary decision” to be made. The reason for this suggestion is that the bulk of other require- ments would be a waste of an applicant’s time and money if the ultimate decision made by licensing officers was not to issue the licence anyway.
• Staggered approach – prevents wasting time and money
Once the approval in principle had been provided to the applicant, then the applicant could proceed to the medical, the driving assessment and other required documentation prior to being issued with the licence, having been assured that the licence would indeed be issued on completion.
The suggestion was initially met with objection based on: “We cannot undermine safety measures” which was a misunderstanding of the suggestion. Once explained in more detail, the response was: “We already do this, so if you are suggesting that some other authorities do not, then we would agree with you that this proposal makes sense”.
• Group 2 medicals – must be own GP?
Another measure suggested related to Group 2 medicals. It was asked how many local authorities still insisted the Group 2 medical examination was only acceptable from the applicant’s own GP instead of, as suggested, allowing central bodies or agencies to provide the same service.
The reason for this proposal is that any professional medical body can now access all medical records with the patients’ consent. Times have moved on from all records being held internally within your local GP surgery, everything is now computerised.
The problem now of course is that due to Covid measures, the majority of local GPs are only doing urgent face-to-face appointments. A Group 2 medical for occupational reasons does not fall into the “urgent” category, which means that applicants cannot get an appointment which is an obstacle that is impossible to overcome.
We can only hope that these measures will be implemented by ALL councils as swiftly as possible!
JANUARY 2022
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