FTA welcomes merger of VOSA and DSA

The Freight Transport Association has welcomed today’s announcement by the Department for Transport that from July, the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) and Driving Standards Agency (DSA) will be merged and put under the control of a single Chief Executive – Alastair Peoples, currently Chief Executive at VOSA – as long as this means an improvement in service and value for money for commercial vehicle operators.

Karen Dee, FTA’s Director of Policy, said: “FTA supports any move which can deliver improved services and better value for money for its members, and we can certainly see some potential for this in the proposed merger of DSA and VOSA – for example if this allows transport managers to check their OCRS scores at the same time as their drivers’ DCPC status that would be a big step forward. However, we will be looking very carefully at the detail behind this to ensure that benefits such as this are delivered.”

The Motoring Services Strategy consultation on improving the delivery of motoring services by the four executive agencies – VOSA, DSA, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency and the Vehicle Certification Agency – floated the idea of ‘streamlining’ the agencies but there were few indications of how this might be achieved.

Karen Dee continued:“While bringing VOSA and DSA together puts testing of drivers and vehicles in one place, licensing of both will still be dealt with by DVLA. It is questionable therefore whether the proposals will deliver the improved links between testing and licensing that operators feel are necessary. FTA looks forward to working with the new – and existing – agencies to bring this about.”