Vocational Driver Conduct

The Traffic Commissioners for Great Britain have powers to regulate professional coach and passenger drivers.

This includes powers to refuse, suspend or remove vocational driving licences. The Guidance and Directions to carry out this work are contained within a Senior Traffic Commissioner Statutory Document that is to be revised. Consequently a consultation has been announced by the Department for Transport. It runs until 24 July 2019.

The changes include provisions for:

• driver disqualification
• abusive behaviour and intimidation of officials
• hearing cases where drivers fail to attend without notice
• increased penalties for mobile phone use
• entry points for disciplinary action, aggravating features and case examples.

One interesting intended addition is “clarification that a Traffic Commissioner has no powers over a person’s entitlement to drive vehicles other than those which fall within the LGV or PCV regime and, further, that he or she cannot take action to prevent a person who received D1 or C1 entitlement as a result of the holding of an ordinary driving licence prior to 1 January 1997 from using that entitlement.” There has been misunderstanding with regard to the exact ambit of the Traffic Commissioners’ powers.

The Senior Traffic Commissioner will be speaking at the Ashtons Legal Road Transport Briefing in Ipswich on 13 June 2019. For further information please click here.