FTA promises to focus on eco-driving policies

Date: 22/02/2012 16:08:42

The Freight Transport Association's (FTA) Road Freight Council (RFC) has announced it will continue to push for mandatory eco-driver training for mobile workers in the fleet and transport sectors.

With a long history of transport lobbying, the FTA has reiterated its commitment to improving the way the industry performs and reforming government policies that have an adverse impact on it and its many mobile workers.

The announcement comes as the FTA appoints a new RFC chairman, Eric Fisher, a transport improvement manager at Abbey Corrugated.

Speaking after taking on the top role at the FTA, Mr Fisher said taking on the chairmanship comes with a healthy amount of expectation, adding that he hopes to do all he can to represent the views of some of the most cutting-edge freight and transport groups in the UK.

He noted that some of the issues at the heart of transport policy in Britain were the cause of much lively and incisive debate.

"The quality and depth of discussion is reflected by the quality of those who have taken the rostrum at our council meetings at national level and across the country," Mr Fisher noted.

He said that building on the work of outgoing FTA RFC chairman Peter Staines, from M&S Transport Temperature Control, would be challenging.

One of the key issues that Mr Fisher claimed he would continue to address through his new role will be poorly-conceived eco-driving policies. He claimed that the Driver Certificate of Professional Competence, for instance, should not be used to enforce fuel-efficient driving.

But there are a plethora of other topics on the FTA's agenda.

"Expectations for 2012 and beyond are as high as ever. Recent discussion items that we hope to bear fruit in the near future include the impact of metal theft, alternative fuel use and our strong recommendations on how to improve the quality and accuracy of operator compliance risk scoring," he concluded.