MPs have warned that impending changes to the regulation of community transport organisations (CTOs) stand to have a “devastating impact” on the sector.
It comes after the establishment of the All-Party Political Group on Community Transport, which has further raised the sector’s political profile and is made up of Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs.
With the Community Transport Association (CTA) set to release detailed guidance on the DfT consultation to its members this week, the most vocal opponent of reform has been Co-operative Party Chair Gareth Thomas MP.
Mr Thomas claims that the government’s announcement in August 2017 that EC Regulation 1071/2009 will soon be enforced, and that CTOs active in the commercial market will be subject to the same requirements as O-Licenced operators, has caused the sector damaging uncertainty, which has already led to the closure of Enfield Community Transport.
Additionally, Mr Thomas says that Harrow Community Transport is facing the same fate if drivers are required to undergo expensive training.
“Many of the people who use community transport are among the most vulnerable in our communities, so the government’s announcement that it was seeking to change the regulation under which the sector operates was met with shock.”
A number of Conservative MPs have echoed some of Mr Thomas’s concerns. However, the Co-operative Party seems to claim that all CTOs will be affected by regulatory changes, despite the government having already clarified that only those that engage in commercial and tendered work will be hit.
Transport Select Committee Chair Lilian Greenwood MP, in a more reasoned opinion, says that the DfT “must not lose sight of the vital policy objective of community transport: The provision of high-quality, safe and secure local service for people who might otherwise be left isolated.”
However, Mrs Greenwood accepts that where instances of unfairness occur, they should be addressed. That is the crux of the complaint from Bus and Coach Association’s (BCA), which forced the DfT’s hand through the threat of legal action.
The Co-operative Party takes a thinly-veiled shot at the BCA, and its leader Martin Allen.
In a garbled and inaccurate statement, it claims: “Just one small group of commercial bus operators, led by one individual, which wants to cherry-pick community transport contracts provided by local authorities and the NHS, and which doesn’t put anything back into the local area, has somehow managed to persuade ministers that new rules are needed to interpret EU regulations.
“If that’s the case, we’re on to them.”
Mr Allen has responded to the Co-operative party. “Mr Thomas has not yet addressed the issues of safety and what the law says. “Before siding with him, the government must examine the legal aspect of the Regulation.” He adds that the BCA has attempted to make contact with Mr Thomas but its emails have not been responded to.
