Dealer news

  The ruling by the Office of Fair Trading on Mercedes-Benz and three of its dealers for flouting competition laws shows just how precarious ‘competition’ is when it comes to road transport.

Vosa is proposing changes to voluntary testing that will benefit ATF operators, the ATF Operators Association (AOA) has revealed. “This was something that was discussed during our meeting with Vosa last month, but unfortunately we are unable to share the full detail at this stage,” said AOA president Steve Smith. “What we can say is that the changes are very interesting and should give ATF operators more minutes to play with.”

The ATF Operators Association (AOA) is an association run by members for members. Set up last year by Steve Smith, director of Boleyn Transport, the AOA is lobbying hard and communicating at a high level with Vosa to influence decisions on the future of testing to benefit all ATF owners and their customers.

The ATF Operators Association (AOA) has written to Vosa’s head of testing management, Alan Wilson, about members’ concerns that the current study of test times at ATFs is being done under artificial conditions. “Some of our members have expressed concern over the measuring experiment saying that it is artificial because the testers know they are being watched, so it is not indicative of an actual test day,” said AOA president Steve Smith.

Robert Flello, Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent South, will be meeting the ATF Operators Association (AOA) at the Commercial Vehicle (CV) Show in Birmingham next week

Stan Robinson ATF manager Paul Glover, and assistant manager Louise Wilson, dressed up as the dynamic duo Batman and Robin for Comic Relief last month.The pair held a cake sale at their premises in Stafford, as well as a raffle for a homemade Wonder Woman cake. The caped crusaders raised a total of £223 for Comic Relief.The Stan Robinson ATF opened in 2011 and is a full-access site offering testing Monday to Friday.

The inaugural meeting between the board of the ATF Operators Association (AOA) and senior Vosa staff, including Vosa chief Alastair Peoples, took place last month, with a follow-up meeting already scheduled for the summer.

Mrs Dealer left for the bank to deposit cheques. After fielding a cold call about PPI claims The Boss popped the kettle on and returned to his chair.

Online shopping leads to vans replacing trucks in the supply chain, explains Alex Wright, MD of Shoreham Vehicle Auctions.

Isuzu Truck UK has added Isuzu North London, a brand new main dealer, to its network.