Temporary suspension of HGV testing will help keep waste sector’s wheels turning during pandemic
The Environmental Services Association (ESA), has welcomed new guidance issued by the Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) that it will suspend MOT testing for all Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGV), trailers and Public Service Vehicles (PSV) for up to three months.
From Friday (March 20), all HGVs, trailers and PSVs with an annual safety test due to expire in a particular month (ie rolling from March) will be issued with a three-month certificate of exemption (CTE) until further notice – although for some vehicle categories, this will not happen automatically and will need to be applied for.
This measure will provide some small relief for the recycling and waste management sector, which operates large fleets of heavy goods vehicles (including refuse collection vehicles) to provide vital waste services to society, and will ensure that otherwise road-worthy vehicles can remain deployed, and not in the garage.
Licence tests for new drivers have also been widely suspended, except for identified key-workers, which includes those working in the recycling and waste industry. This means that trainee HGV drivers for our sector, who may be waiting to take their tests in the coming months, should still be able to do so.
More information about the announcement can be found HERE.
Executive Director of the Environmental Services Association (ESA), Jacob Hayler, said: “This sensible, pragmatic, approach taken by the DVSA is welcomed and will help recycling and waste operators, including ESA members, remain focussed on keeping our homes and streets free from waste during this challenging period.
Of course, ESA members will continue to keep all of their vehicles in a safe, roadworthy, condition and will operate within the terms of their operators’ licence conditions, but this extension does provide temporary small relief to a vital sector that will undoubtedly be under increasing pressure in the coming weeks and months.
The ESA is working with Government to try and address multiple regulatory areas where temporary common-sense flexibility like this will help operators to keep the wheels turning on waste services. Last week, we were pleased to see that the Government listened to calls from the ESA and others, which saw waste disposal identified as an essential sector, and its frontline employees given key-worker status.”
