Feature Articles

Within the EU most goods may move freely between and through countries without any formalities and for that reason are known as “despatches” rather than imports or exports. At the moment this still includes the UK. However, if the UK leaves the customs union and single market such freedom of movement will no longer apply and some formalities will be necessary at the interface between the UK and the EU.

Richard J Smith, transport consultant, takes a look at the three areas in the freight transport industry where acquired rights (previously known as grandfather rights) currently apply.

This feature summarises the key laws in commercial transport that are affected by Brexit.

Stuart Chamberlain, author and senior employment consultant at Croner-i, provides an update on the implications of a “no-deal” Brexit for immigration and employment law.

In less than 9 weeks the UK is leaving the EU, at least that is the current plan. It is looking increasingly likely that there will be a no deal Brexit. Furthermore, if there is no deal it is possible that the UK and EU could enter into agreements for specific areas. Consequently, this is a fluid situation and significant changes may be introduced at any time.

On 24 July 2019, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) issued a necessary rebuttal to inaccurate media reports that the decade-low (45.8%) initial driving test pass rate is due to the newly-introduced and “dangerous” pull up on the right manoeuvre. In doing so DVSA highlighted the very strong correlation between driving test faults and the factors that cause accidents, as cited for every type of vehicle in the official Road Accident and Safety Statistics (RAS).

For goods and public service vehicle drivers, there can surely be no more valuable qualification than the vocational driving entitlements which enable them to drive the classes of vehicle for which they are employed. It is obvious why a lorry driver — who does not hold a licence to drive a lorry — is not an awful lot of use to an employer. The protection of that entitlement is vital to any driver — it is no exaggeration to say that their livelihood depends on it.

In this article, Andrew Shylan of AJS HAZ Training explores the carriage of dangerous goods using the excepted quantity (EQ) exemptions, concentrating on the surface movement of EQs and the subtle differences between road/rail and sea transport.

Caroline Raine discusses the Carriage of Dangerous Goods (CDG) prohibition notices issued in 2018 and highlights common mistakes that are made by those transporting dangerous goods.

In their latest version of their statutory guidance, the Traffic Commissioners added a new section on driver employment status (document 5 — Legal entities) which highlights their concern over the issue of employment and self-employment in the transport industry. This article by tax expert Mark Cawthron provides an update ahead of the introduction of the new off-payroll rules for workers in the private sector with effect from 6 April 2020. In doing so, he looks at the related question of employment status, where legislative change is also anticipated. This will be of interest to PSV operators who regularly use the services of such individuals in the course of their business, such as those employed by personal service companies, and any HGV operators who have to deal with the issue of employment status in their business. At the foot of this article is a summary of a case where the Tribunal considered a pool of drivers to be engaged to work essentially as “day labourers”.