Specifying vehicles. Managing O licence discs. Setting up and running systems to record, analyse and monitor drivers’ hours. 

These are the “bread and butter” activities every transport manager should be on top of. 

It’s something the North East Traffic Commissioner, Tim Blackmore, emphasised earlier this month when he disqualified a transport manager. 

The TM admitted at public inquiry that he hadn’t undertaken any further training since qualifying in 1996. 

That’s over 20 years. 

Mr Blackmore also found the O licence holder didn’t have a contract with the transport manager. 

So there was no genuine link and the firm didn’t have professional competence. That’s a mandatory requirement for standard licence holders. 

A DVSA investigation revealed the operator didn’t have a company card to download vehicle units and hadn’t told the Office of the Traffic Commissioner about a change of maintenance provider. 

Mr Blackmore said the list of failings fell “fairly and squarely” under the responsibility of the transport manager.

Disqualifying the TM until he has re-taken and passed the CPC examination, the Traffic Commissioner also curtailed the company’s O licence and gave them a period of grace to find a new transport manager.

Guidance: Transport manager duties