FTA reacts angrily to EU’s tachograph proposals
The UK-based Freight Transport Association (FTA) has claimed that new proposals from the European Parliament’s transport committee to introduce tachographs for vans “would have a serious impact on the working lives of those using Britain’s four million vans in their daily business”.
The proposals are part of the latest draft of the Mobility Package due to be implemented before the UK leaves the EU in 2019. In the latest draft of the EU’s Mobility Package, currently making its way through the European parliament, operators of “vans” (i.e. commercial vehicles between 2.4 and 3.5 tonnes) would be required to fit and operate a tachograph, as heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) are already required to do.
In a statement sent to Post&Parcel today (2 May), James Hookham, deputy CEO of FTA, said: “Forgetting the cost implications of tachograph installation for so many hard-working British businesses, the introduction of this equipment in the vans sector would be pointless and time consuming.
“Will small businesses really have the time and ability to analyse the necessary data and plan their work around so many new working time rules?
“Would governments have the resources to enforce the move? The proposal is simply unenforceable, and a case of MEPs making bad decisions on the fly.”
Hookham added: “Vans are now central to our daily lives, with next day deliveries a given for households and business. Introducing a pointless measure like tachographs for van operators will not benefit our small and medium sized businesses but strangle them with red tape, at a time when they should be being encouraged to flourish and expand.”
