The Road Haulage Association has urged Transport for London to grant longer grace periods for hauliers who don’t succeed to comply with the new Direct Vision Standard (DVS) requirements. The DVS regulations come into force from 1 March in London, and those without a valid HGV Safety Permit (or are not on the allow list) face fines of £550.
The RHA justifies its claim by saying that operators are struggling to comply with DVS rules due to a shortage of DVS retrofit parts caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The Transport for London (TfL) is aware of the difficulties hauliers face, therefore, it has launched an allow list for HGV operators who apply for the HGV Safety Permit in time but won’t be able to fulfil the requirements by 1 March.
However, RHA says the allow list rules are too limited and not clear enough.
The allow list
The aforementioned “allow list” grants HGV operators who register with Transport for London before 1st March 2021 a “grace” period of 90 days to enable them to comply with the DVS safety requirements.
Registration is conditional on operators providing evidence of their applications or planned installation arrangements for safe system equipment to their vehicles.
Operators who do not register by 1st March and/or do not hold a valid HGV Safety Permit will face enforcement action by TfL from 1st March.
>>> Check out our guide on how to get a DVS rating HERE <<<
Photo credit @Sam Saunders/ Flickr