UK Law and Practice Contributed by: James Backhouse, Jonathon Backhouse, Andrew Woolfall and Mark Davies, Backhouse Jones
9.4 Technical Standards and Certification Vehicles operated in a fleet must be maintained in a roadworthy condition and comply with the Road Vehi - cles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986. Where applicable, they must also hold a valid MoT certificate. In the case of buses and coaches, a new vehicle, or a vehicle that has been substantially modified, must obtain a Certificate of Initial Fitness, or an equivalent approval under the relevant vehicle approval regime, before it can be used in service. The certificate is issued by the DVSA following inspection, although the application process is typically undertaken by the vehicle manufacturer or body builder before the vehi - The transportation of hazardous materials by road is regulated by the UN Agreement concerning the Inter - national Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (ADR). 9.6 Insurance and Liability All vehicles used on the highway must have an appro - priate certificate of insurance ensuring both the vehi - cle and driver meet the legal obligations to insure against third-party risk. 10. Labour and Employment 10.1 Sector-Specific Labour Rules There are no labour laws specific to transport workers. 10.2 Collective Bargaining Sector-wide collective agreements are not common, but employer-wide collective agreements are com - mon in large organisations. 10.3 Transfer of Undertakings cle is delivered to the operator. 9.5 Hazardous Materials From an employment perspective, the same employ - ment protections apply when concessions change hands. 10.4 Working Time and Safety There are specific rules governing driver hours and working time. These are the Road Transport (Working Time) Regulations 2005 and the assimilated tacho - graph rules, as well as the domestic hours rules and working time regulations. For coach operators going
into Europe or hauliers and other operators going beyond Europe, there is also the European Agreement Concerning the Work of Crews of Vehicles Engaged in International Road Transport (AETR). 10.5 Workforce Availability With regard to the road transport sector, there is a driver shortage; hence, wages have increased signifi - cantly within the last five years. The adverse conse - quence of this is that drivers who historically might have not been considered adequate are now being given opportunities to drive, which potentially creates high risk. This applies across the board in the bus, coach and haulage sectors. 10.6 Industrial Action Strikes and other industrial actions in essential trans - port services are regulated in exactly the same way as all businesses. 11. Rolling Stock, Fleet and Asset Regulation 11.1 Approval and Registration No content provided in this jurisdiction. 11.2 Interoperability Standards With respect to interoperability standards, the UK meets the European standards and they are repeated in the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regula - tions 1986. 11.3 Leasing and Repossession In terms of repossession rights for leased vehicles, this is a contractual obligation, and the lessor is enti - tled to repossess under the contract if the lessee is in breach. 11.4 Maintenance and Inspection For road transport operators, whether they operate heavy goods vehicles (HGVs), Public Service Vehi - cles (PSVs) or Passenger Carrying Vehicles (PCVs), guidance regarding what is expected can be found in a DVSA publication titled “Guide to maintaining roadworthiness”. Vehicle inspection frequencies are dependent on usage, mileage and age.
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