Transport agency takes 35 offending operators off the road

Thursday, 1 August 2019

Since October the NZ Transport Agency has moved to revoke 65 commerical transport licences and 35 have so far been cancelled.

The NZ Transport Agency's cancellation of 35 transport licences in under a year has the industry worried.

As the number of casualties mounts, there's debate over whether the agency's new enforcement approach is firm but fair, or too heavy handed

There is particular concern about mass interviews of drivers employed by a trucking company in what the industry regarded as a major departure from the usual way of auditing transport operators.

Since law firm Meredith Connell was brought in to review 850 outstanding files last October, the agency has issued 65 notices of proposal to revoke transport service licences for transport, passenger, car rental and vehicle recovery operators.

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Road Transport Association chief executive Dennis Robertson says there's now a higher threshold for assessing whether transport operators are 'fit and proper persons' to hold a licence. .

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Ten proposed revocations were withdrawn following submissions, 35 licences were cancelled, and 20 are still going through the process.

That compares with 66 transport service licence revocations over the three years to the middle of 2018.

The agency's general manager regulatory Kane Patena said they were now much more proactive about detecting and dealing with rule breakers, but it was a 'firm but fair' approach.

'There are many good operators and they have absolutely nothing to worry about.'

Road Transport Association chief executive Dennis Robertson said the current level of compliance action was unheard of and in some instances seemed over the top.

NZTA says the number of operators taken off the road permanently in a safety crack down represent less than 1 per cent of the 50,000 transport service licence holders.

'They're treating them like criminal investigations.'

Those taken off the road included general transport, rural cartage, passenger shuttle, and furniture removal companies.

Four of the 10 court appeals against revocations have been dismissed and six are still to be heard including the high profile case against Northland company Stan Semenoff Logging.

Road Transport Forum chief executive Nick Leggett said his organisation was seeking clarification of the audit process, whether it was launched on the basis of evidence, or was more of a fishing expedition.

'There's recognition NZTA has tightened up and the industry is on board completely with the approach to improving safety.

'What we are interested in is whether the law is applied correctly.'

Auckland lawyer Shafraz Khan specialises in transport cases and he said the goal posts had shifted without engaging with the industry.

'Interpretation of the rules has changed.'

An example of that was the way the 'fit and proper' person test was being applied to heavy vehicle and passenger licence applications with the agency taking a tougher line on traffic infringements.

'The District Court said a reasonable number of speeding tickets was a hazard of the job, but now it has become unacceptable.

'Are we striving for perfection when it comes to these things, is this the new standard we need to work towards? We don't know,' said Khan.

Patena confirmed the agency was looking much more closely at drivers' histories of traffic offences, and vetting applications more thoroughly.

'If someone has the odd speeding infraction now and then, they don't have anything to worry about. We're talking about operators where there's a pattern of non-compliant behaviour.'

There was no 'bright line test' to determine how many speeding tickets were acceptable, but the agency was taking a close look at drivers who had been disqualified from driving three or more times in the last nine years.

Two had been banned from driving for 10 years, the maximum time possible.

'We're talking about people who have amassed 100 odd convictions, multiple offences [such as] speeding, drugs, violence.'

Patena said the agency had made really good progress towards making safety a top priority.

'We've got a long way to go before we can get to the point where we can say we are a leading Government regulator, that's one of the aspirations the [NZTA] board set for us and it's going to take a bit of time.'