EU rules threaten haulage industry with business continuity risk says insurer

The new rules come through an EU-wide regime of driver certification of professional competence (Driver CPC) that will affect hundreds of thousands of employed and self-employed truck drivers across all 27 European member states. Andy Keane, UK Motor Portfolio Manager at Brit Insurance, said this week that the ramifications for both the haulage industry and the UK economy will be far-reaching unless operators take action now and current levels of Driver CPC uptake improves. “The deadline for completing the required 35 hours of training is 2014 which may seem like a long way off but the reality is many haulage companies and drivers are simply leaving it too late,” said Mr Keane.hideBrit said that based upon current industry estimates, there is likely to be a rush for training towards the end of the compliance period and this will have major implications for business continuity. “The current shortfall in the number of training hours completed by those required to undertake Driver CPC is likely to exceed 5 million training hours by the end of 2011 and it’s predicted there could be as much as a 30 per cent shortfall in the number of qualified drivers of vehicles over 3.5 tonnes before 2014,” said Mr Keane. “Should this happen, the impact on the UK economy could be devastating with a downturn in productivity coupled with loss of sales for many millions of businesses that depend on road haulage,” he added. Many operators are still struggling to deal with the escalation in diesel and petrol costs in recent times. The underlying implications for the haulage industry through non-compliance with Driver CPC is, however, potentially far more serious according to Brit. John Davidge, Technical Consultant with Cardinus Risk Management, said that many operators have either ‘stuck their heads in the sand’ or are simply unaware of the implications that the EU directive has for the future of their businesses. “There will be many small-medium businesses that will be caught out by these forthcoming regulations. A couple of weeks ago I did a survey with a lighting firm in Essex that runs a mixed fleet of vans, 7.5 tonnes trucks and cars and was shocked to learn that the finance director was totally unaware of the Driver CPC regulations despite the risk that failure to comply will have on the business,” said Mr Davidge. “Many SMBs use a warehouseman or factory worker as a spare driver to cover leave or times where there’s high demand and unless they’ve received the requisite Driver CPC training, those drivers will no longer be able to drive,” he added. Haulage and fleet owners will now have to rethink the way they manage their businesses in the future, said Brit. And the issue is further complicated by the fact that the number of qualified drivers available (average age 54 years) is rapidly falling, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in the UK. According to Brit, latest research shows that there are 299,000 vocational large goods vehicle drivers in employment, a drop of nearly 3.5% over the last couple of years from 309,000 in 2009.

EU rules threaten haulage industry with business continuity risk says insurer

Want to read this article?

Read Next

Luxembourg risk association launches training programme

EU pharma and cosmetics bodies mount legal action over wastewater treatment rules

Class action closes against BHP for Brazil dam collapse

German regional court to hear landmark climate lawsuit

WTW creates new analytics role in Europe

Luxembourg risk association launches training programme

EU pharma and cosmetics bodies mount legal action over wastewater treatment rules

Class action closes against BHP for Brazil dam collapse

German regional court to hear landmark climate lawsuit

WTW creates new analytics role in Europe

Keep yourself informed

Sign up for Commercial Risk’s newsletters

Want to read this article?

Read Next

Luxembourg risk association launches training programme

EU pharma and cosmetics bodies mount legal action over wastewater treatment rules

Class action closes against BHP for Brazil dam collapse

German regional court to hear landmark climate lawsuit

WTW creates new analytics role in Europe

Related Articles

Keep yourself informed

Sign up for Commercial Risk’s newsletters