HMRC has announced downtime of both Customs Declaration Service and Goods Vehicle Movement System on Saturday 15 October 2022 21:30 to 22:30. Due to scheduled maintenance, creating, updating, or embarking a goods movement reference during this time will be affected. Declarations submitted in this time will be processed at the end of the downtime. If you need to complete a goods movement reference during the downtime, make sure any Movement Reference Numbers (MRNs) you add have been created and released before the downtime. You will not be able to: add import declaration add export declaratio ..read more

Two temporary Inland Border Facilities (IBFs) will be closing earlier than planned, in November 2022, HM Revenue and Customs have announced.  The two remaining interim IBF sites Warrington and Ebbsfleet, will close on 13 November and 27 November respectively, following the closure of Birmingham and North Weald IBFs earlier this year.   IBFs allow HMRC to carry out documentation checks and physical inspections away from the UK’s busiest ports to help with the flow of goods in and out of the UK.   Testing at the Sevington and Holyhead IBFs showed these two larger facilit ..read more

Businesses importing goods only have a matter of weeks left to move across to the UK’s new streamlined customs system. Import declarations must be submitted through the new Customs Declaration Service from 1st October this year when it takes over from the Customs Handling Import and Export Freight (CHIEF) system for import declarations. HMRC is writing to all declarants and traders affected by the change to urge them to access the help available now and move to the Customs Declaration Service. Businesses with customs agents should check they are ready to use the Customs Declaration Service. Th ..read more

Whilst the British International Freight Association (BIFA) is confident that its members have taken heed of its advice to prepare for the forthcoming changes to the UK’s customs entry processing systems, anecdotal evidence suggests that some of their customers may be less prepared. With HMRC monitoring the preparedness of customs agents and importers for the forthcoming migration of all import declarations from CHIEF to the Customs Declaration Service (CDS), BIFA has prepared two documents that its members can send to their customers in order to collect the information that is required from t ..read more

FORS, the Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme, is delighted to announce the launch of FORS Legal a subscription service to be provided as part of the Affinity Partner Programme by leading industry law firm Backhouse Jones. BACKup as the subscription service is known, moves away from a traditional fee-based relationship and provides operators with access to 24/7 legal advice for a fixed monthly fee. Designed to address the main pinch points of a transport business which are primarily employment and regulatory issues, the scheme provides advice and practical guidance to ensure companies are meetin ..read more

TruTac is warning businesses about little-known but stringent tachograph compliance rules that require commercial vehicle operators to record and show evidence of drivers’ timetables – both during and outside of working hours – for the past 28 days. The majority of EU Mobility Package rules were introduced on 20th August 2020 and applies to every driver undertaking any EU-regulated driving (both HGV and PSV). It requires operators to provide at the roadside, 24/7 record of drivers’ activities for the previous 28 days, which must be documented via a tachograph chart, the driver’s digi ..read more

The Competition Appeal Tribunal (‘Tribunal’) has today delivered a landmark judgment entitling the Road Haulage Association to proceed with its collective claim on behalf of hauliers seeking damages from the major European truck manufacturers who were found to have operated a price-fixing cartel between 1997 and 2011. The claim is the first ever opt-in collective proceedings to have been certified by the Tribunal under the new regime and the RHA’s success is even more notable given that it faced a competing opt-out (alternatively opt-in) application by UK Trucks Claim Limited (“UKTC”) which wa ..read more

Specialist driver recruitment agency, Driver Require, achieved the unique status of becoming the first UK agency to be REC Audited, a signed FCSA Supply Chain Partner and achieve the Logistics UK Driver Agency Excellence award. Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, Driver Require deliberately set out a strategy to achieve accreditation of best practice and compliance across all aspects of their business. Last week, they received REC Audited status, the third of three formal recognitions they’ve been working towards to show the agency’s compliance across recruitment, payroll and specialist haulage se ..read more

Transport for London’s Direct Vision Standard (DVS) permit will be enforced from the beginning of March – and thousands of hauliers have still not applied. Goods vehicles over 12 tonnes now require a permit to drive into Greater London under DVS – which is based on a ‘star rating’ indicating how much a driver can see from the cab and was developed by Transport for London (TfL) to protect vulnerable road users. Now Brigade Electronics – which supplies technology that allows HGVs to comply with the new legislation – is urging drivers and fleet managers to act fast. TFL have announced that the de ..read more

Speaking about Tuesday’s (19 January 2021) news from Transport for London (TfL) on the start date for the Direct Vision Standard scheme, Natalie Chapman, Head of Policy – South at Logistics UK said:  “The safety of all London’s road users is of prime importance to Logistics UK and we welcome the flexibility and certainty that [Tuesday’s] announcement provides. Our members have rolling programmes of safe system retrofit for their existing fleet as well as orders in place for new compliant vehicles, but these schedules are currently being disrupted&nb ..read more