2014-10-29 Minutes - SVMC
PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL
MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE SCOTTISH VEHICLE MAINTENANCE
COMMITTEE HELD AT 1100 ON 29TH OCTOBER 2014 AT GTG TRAINING,
GLASGOW
Present:
John Harper
(Vice-Chair) Stagecoach East Scotland
Alastair Skene
Mark Smith
Gary West
Wendy Findlay
Dougie Martin
Russell Henderson
Tony Wyle
George Whitelaw
Grant Pirie
Ralph Roberts
Carl Yeaman
Edinburgh Coach Lines
Edinburgh Coach Lines
First Scotland East
First Glasgow
West Coast Motors
Stagecoach North Scotland
Lothian Buses
Whitelaws Coaches
McGills
McGills
Stagecoach West Scotland
In attendance:
George Mair
Jeremy Tinsley
Colin Moore
Ian Taylor
Ian Bain
Walter Brown
Duncan Harrop
CPT Scotland
CPT Scotland
CPT UK
GTG
DVSA
DVSA
DVSA
Apologies:
Bill Devlin
Duncan Hearsum
David Rutherford
Gary Rutherford
Jim Armstrong
Lennox Mackie
Frank Sheach
Ian Smith
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(Chair)
Lothian Buses
Dial-a-journey / WAVE
Earnside Coaches
Earnside Coaches
Lothian Buses
Mackie’s Coaches
National Express Dundee
Smith & Sons Coaches
INTRODUCTION / OPENING REMARKS:
John Harper (JH) welcomed everyone to the meeting.
2.
APOLOGIES:
The apologies listed above were noted.
Confederation of Passenger Transport UK - Scotland
2 Walker Street, Edinburgh, EH3 7LA Tel: 0131 260 5107 Fax: 0131 260 5106
www.cpt-uk.org www.twitter.com/cpt_uk www.facebook.com/cpt-uk
scotland@cpt-uk.org
3.
MINUTES:
The minutes of the meeting held on 25th March 2014 were approved.
4.
MATTERS ARISING:
There were no matters arising.
5.
PRESENTATION BY GTG GLASGOW:
JH welcomed GTG Group Operations Manager, Ian Taylor (IT) to the
meeting and thanked GTG for hosting the meeting. IT thanked members for
attending and gave members an overview of GTG and what it can offer
members.
IT advised members that GTG has been established for over 43 years, and is
owned by Arnold Clark. GTG has centres in Glasgow, the West midlands, and
a new centre will be opened in Edinburgh (Ratho) later in the year.
5.1 SVQ apprenticeships
IT informed members that GTG can work with operators to help recruit and
train future employees through their Bus and Coach Apprenticeship
Programme.
GTG are able to work with local education providers and young persons
organisations to encourage students into the industry and can deliver a series
of assessments to help operators identify those best suited to their
organisation.
5.2 IRTEC
IT told members that GTG can help operator’s employees and workshops
achieve the IRTE accreditations.
The IRTEC accreditation requires a 2 day assessment covering the inspection
routine followed by written and practical tests. The assessment can either be
carried out at a GTG facility or at an operator’s depot if preferred.
IT offered CPT a complementary trial for 2 people to members to get a better
understanding of the course.
Members who are interested in taking GTG up on the 2 spaces should contact
jeremyt@cpt-uk.org as soon as possible.
For further information on GTG please contact:
Ian Taylor (Group Operations Manager)
0141 950 5600 / 07919 625543
itaylor@gtg.co.uk
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6.
MINUTES OF THE CPT ENGINEERING COMMITTEE – 23/09/2014
6.1 Presentation by Wheelright
Colin Moore (CM) asked members if they would be interested in receiving a
presentation from Wheelright (a supplier of sensor plates which record the
tyre pressures on all of the tyres on car, bus and truck is it drives over the
plate) at the next meeting.
It was agreed that CPT invite Wheelright to speak at the next Scottish Vehicle
Maintenance Committee meeting.
6.2 Best practice guide for bus and coach tyre maintenance
CM advised members that final draft of the best practice guide for tyre
maintenance by the North West Maintenance Liaison Committee in
conjunction with the Senior Traffic Commissioner, Beverley Bell has now been
produced. A forward by the Senior Traffic Commissioner shall now be
included before publication and distribution to members.
CPT will circulate the document to members.
6.3 Tyres (buses and coaches) bill 2014-15:
CM informed members that a bill was introduced to Parliament on 15 July
2014 under the Ten Minute Rule. It is expected to have a Second Reading on
November 28th, 2014.
If passed the bill would make it an offence to operate a public service vehicle
with tyres that are 10 or more years old, give the traffic commissioners power
of sanction and enforcement in this regard, and make it a requirement of the
annual vehicle test that the age of tyres be checked and recorded.
Members agreed that it would largely not affect operators except in the
instances of heritage fleets. Members felt that a common sense approach
(such as a 30mph max speed limit) to these vehicles should be adopted.
6.4 Accessibility space and priority seats – safety issues
CM told members that the CPT had been approached by the DfT who wish to
discuss instances where occupants of a priority seat have been thrown
forward during braking. The DfT are seeking to begin a discussion in order to
reach an acceptable compromise between design/manufacture and actual
requirements.
A sub group has been formed to discuss the issue and liaise with DfT and
SMMT. CPT will keep members informed of any developments.
6.5 CPT website – health & safety
CM asked members to visit the Health and Safety section of the CPT
Compliance Manual and pass any feedback on the section and any specific
topics they would like to see covered.
http://compliancemanual.cpt-uk.net/Home/Chapter/11
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CPT will include a Health & Safety item on all future Scottish Vehicle
Maintenance Committee meeting agendas.
7.
CPT ACCREDITIONS SCHEMES
CM told members that both the CPT Engineering Manager Professional
Standards and Workshop accreditation schemes have now been launched
and a number of companies / individuals had successfully completed the
courses and achieved the accreditations.
Further details on the scheme can be found here: http://www.cptuk.org//_uploads/attachment/3254.pdf
8.
REPORT BY DVSA
JH welcomed Walter Brown (WB), Iain Bain (IB) and Duncan Harrop (DH)
to the meeting.
8.1 Next generation testing
WB gave members an overview of the next generation of testing.
WB explained that next generation testing is the next step following VOSA /
DVSA’s testing transformation programme. As testing moved to Authorised
Testing Facilities (ATFs) that are more local to operators it became apparent
that a more flexible approach to the times at which testing is conducted was
needed.
To meet these needs the DVSA have made changes to staff terms and
conditions which will allow ‘out of hours’ testing at times that work for the
operators.
WB said that a successful pilot of the scheme has now conducted in South
Wales, and that the next generation testing will be rolled out over the next 2
years, with Scotland seeing next generation testing starting from August 2016.
8.2 Next generation enforcement
WB advised that the next generation of enforcement is in the early stages of
development with no implementation date as yet.
Next generation enforcement is being developed in order to improve
compliance whilst making it more costly to be a non-compliant operator.
Proposals include:
 Increasing the number of interventions following prohibitions.
 Recognising the operator’s culture and the good work that compliant
operators do.
 Further improving the targeting of non-compliant operators.
 Improving data by utilising technologies such as ANPR to identify hotspots
of poor operations.
WB stated that a remote enforcement office has now been opened which has
already delivered over a 300% increase in interventions in the trial area of the
South East of the UK.
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CM asked if intelligence is given to / received from similar agencies in Europe.
WB responded stating that intelligence passed where possible.
IB added that details of every prohibition that the DVSA issues are passed to
the relevant operators member state
8.3 Effectiveness report and prohibition and annual test fail rates
IB gave members an overview of the latest prohibition rates, details of top
defects, and the annual test failure rates.
Full details of the report can be found here:
http://www.cpt-uk.org//_uploads/attachment/3338.pdf
8.4 ATFs
DH told members that there are now 459 Authorised Testing Facilities (ATFs)
in UK, with 86% of all tests being carried out at ATFs.
In Scotland there are 49 ATFs with an additional 9 sites that have expressed
an interest in becoming an ATF.
DH advised that 7 Designated Premises (DPs) remain in the UK, none of
which are located in Scotland.
Next biannual ATF forum takes place on 11th November in East Kilbride.
8.5 Individual Vehicle Approval (IVA)
DH informed members that from 29th October all none registered vehicles that
have been subject to modifications that have not been subject to (European)
Whole Vehicle Approval (EWVA / WVA) will fall into IVA requirements subject
to the depth of modifications.
DH stated that PSV`s will fall under one of 3 ‘M’ categorisations:
 M1- Passenger Vehicles up to 8 seats
 M2- Passenger Vehicles with more than 8 seats up to 5000kgs GW
 M3- Passenger Vehicles with more than 8 seats and greater than 5000
kgs GW
In addition to these types there are variables within the scheme:
 Class A – Vehicles no more than 22 persons including standees
 Class B – Vehicles no more than 22 persons but with no standees
 Class 1- Vehicles with more than 22 passengers including standees
 Class 2 – Vehicles with more than 22 passengers with restricted standing
spaces
 Class 3 – Vehicles with more than 22 passengers & no standees
DH advised that as the major manufacturers appear to be going down the line
of EWVA or WVA, the implementation of this scheme may have no direct
effect to multiple new purchases; however single purchases including
personal imports could be subject to IVA.
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DH told members that the DVSA is looking at an interim measure to meet
demand, with anticipated volume at 16,000. Most ATF`s will meet compliance,
however the costs for ATFs sites to meet specification for M category could
reach £20k due to increased equipment costs.
8.6 DVSA memo 22/14
DH gave members details on a recent memo issued to DVSA staff concerning
the testing of gas powered vehicles.
The memo can be found here:
http://www.cpt-uk.org//_uploads/attachment/3339.pdf
8.8 Section 20 reporting
Russell Henderson (RH) asked if the DVSA had seen an update in section
20 reporting since the last Scottish Vehicle Maintenance Committee meeting
in March.
WB stated that there had been a good level of uptake from operators;
however some incidents are still not being reported.
JH asked if an electronic version of the form can be supplied, as current the
form has to be filled in on screen before being printed then scanned to the
DVSA.
WB said that the DVSA will investigate an electronic option.
9.
AOCB:
There was no other business
10.
DATE OF NEXT MEETING:
24th March 2015, venue to be confirmed.
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