What is an External Transport Manager and Why do you Need One?

Hiring an external transport manager is an efficient and effective way to ensure compliance.

When your business has a fleet of vehicles that transport goods and you have a standard operator’s license (O licence), you have an obligation to ensure that not only your vehicles, but also your drivers, comply with applicable requirements.

The requirements include, but are not limited to, driver competency, vehicle compliance, record keeping and reporting.

What is an External Transport Manager?

As a small or medium sized transport company, you know you need to remain compliant, but you aren’t big enough to warrant hiring a full-time transport manager, you’re probably too busy to do it all yourself to a high enough standard and, is your CPC still valid?

The law, and the transport commissioner, have assigned specific duties to transport managers to comply with your O licence.

These duties include:

? Avoiding the overloading of vehicles

? Notifying the Traffic Commissioner of all relevant penalties and prosecutions

? Drivers hours’ and Working Time Directive records are kept and ensuring compliance with both sets of law

? Ensuring that vehicle payloads notifications are correct, height indicators are fitted and correct, and tachograph calibrations are up to date and displayed

? Ensuring that drivers are recording their duty, driving time and rest breaks on the appropriate equipment or in driver’s hours’ books and their records are being handed back for inspection as required

? Make sure vehicles are kept at authorised operating centres when not in use

? Vehicle and driver card downloading

? Drivers are adequately trained (driver CPC)

? Defect reporting system

? Vehicle maintenance records, maintenance system and planner

Why do you Need an External Transport Manager?

Many owner-operators appoint themselves as transport manager within their own business. Not only is there recommendation across the industry to avoid doing this, but what are the consequences of doing it?

As the business owner, you’re a busy person. There’s absolutely no two ways about that – and we really understand that. What happens if you’re off sick for a long period of time or you have other external pressures? If you’re not working in your business, you can’t be transport manager and, let’s face it, do you really want to be burdened with all the paperwork? (there’s a lot, right?). Not only the extra paperwork, but you need to consider all the extra physical work and the time it takes to do it.

Now, we get it – you feel you’re doing a good enough job. You are strong-willed and you have great purpose about you, but there is a risk that there are certain aspects that could be putting your O licence at risk.

We will make sure your business is fully compliant.

Our external transport manager service takes the pain away by ensuring that your business remains both compliant and efficient.

We help by carrying out internal audits, tacho analysis, and systems implementation, along with putting schedules in place to minimise disruption by having your drivers and/or vehicles off the road due to licensing and other regulatory lapses.

This means that you can be free to do what you do best, which is running your successful, profitable, transport business.

When you are ready to appoint Flagship Trucks as your External Transport Manager, give us a call on 01733 396169 or email [email protected].