Answers still needed on Brexit implications

CPT still waiting government responses on certain coach and bus sector concerns

On-going discussions and negotiations about Brexit are still posing questions on coach and bus industry implications, says the Confederation of Passenger Transport’s Steven Salmon.

“We do face a cloud of some uncertainty,” CPT’s Director of Policy Development told a seminar at Euro Bus Expo. “There are some important questions to which we simply do not know the answer.”

Answers to some questions are now known.

On the right to take tourists into and around Europe, he says the UK “can and almost certainly will” sign the Interbud Agreement whether it has a no-deal Brexit or Brexit with a deal. But this doesn’t cover cabotage or operating regular services to EU member states.

There is a “chance on the horizon” of an over-arching agreement on operating regular services. But if that is not obtained, specific bespoke agreements between the UK and each EU country would be needed.

“Then there is the much more difficult question about which there is horrible uncertainty about the right of the driver and any other worker that you happen to have on board to work,” he says. “Mobile workers and hosted workers are a very hot topic in Europe at the moment.”

Whole vehicle type approval and selling of vehicles in Europe that are partly or totally certified in the UK could also be impacted by Brexit.

CPT keeps asking government questions but is still waiting for answers on certain aspects, he explains.

“It is frustrating that we can talk to people who are absolutely at the centre of these discussions and they say: ‘I don’t know’. We have done what we can be putting our issues firmly on their agenda. So, at the very least they know they are important issues and there is a whole sector waiting for answers for them.”