Consultation outcome

Guidelines for taking passengers to sporting events in England and Wales consultation document

Updated 19 July 2023

Applies to England and Wales

1.  STC Foreword

As Senior Traffic Commissioner, I have powers to issue Statutory Guidance and Statutory Directions to the Traffic Commissioners for Great Britain, these are referred to as the Statutory Documents.

The Statutory Documents are published to explain how the traffic commissioners work to deliver consistent and fair regulation of the transport industry and represents our efforts to modernise the licensing regime.

Annex C of Statutory document 1: Good repute and fitness sets out the voluntary guidelines on the carriage of passengers to designated sporting events in England and Wales, specifically association football matches. These guidelines have been in place for a number of years, having been developed and agreed across a number of different stakeholders.

For this consultation we have reviewed these guidelines in conjunction with the National Football Policing Unit to update the terminology and address emerging issues related to policing of football fans.

In order to help us in revising the guidelines, we would like to hear from industry and its representatives and other stakeholders who have an interest in the carriage of football fans by PSVs. We invite you to offer your thoughts and contributions on the changes we are considering making.

Richard Turfitt
Senior Traffic Commissioner for Great Britain

2.  Introduction

2.1  Role of the Traffic Commissioners

The Traffic Commissioners for Great Britain are independent specialist regulators. They are responsible for the licensing and regulation of commercial vehicle operators and regulating the conduct of professional drivers in the lorry, bus and coach industries.

As part of their key strategic objectives, the commissioners aim to promote a safe road transport industry which supports compliance, fair competition and protects the environment. Key to this is the provision of guidance to the industry on the standards expected of them.

2.2  Background

The majority of football fans are law abiding and do not intend to cause disturbances whilst travelling to or from games, but a small minority can be disruptive and impact the enjoyment of others. To assist in addressing anti-social behaviour, the then Government introduced The Sporting Events (Control of Alcohol) Act 1985, which created the offence of knowingly causing or permitting the carriage of alcohol on public service vehicles (whose principal purpose is the transportation of supporters to designated sporting events). The only sporting events that have been designated are association football matches.

To complement the legislation, traffic commissioners worked with other stakeholders, including the Confederation of Passenger Transport, the Coach Operators Federation, the Association of Transport Coordinating Officers and the Crown Prosecution Service, to develop a voluntary code of practice (or guidelines) that PSV operators transporting supporters to games are expected to comply with.

The guidelines provide useful reference to operators, transport managers, drivers and those that represent them.

This approach has worked well, and it has seldom been necessary for a traffic commissioner to take regulatory action against an operator who has contravened the guidelines.

However, there is concern that incidents of football related violence and disorder do still occur and may be increasing. As the Senior Traffic Commissioner last consulted on these guidelines in 2013 it is considered appropriate to review them for continued relevance and to address any emerging concerns.

This consultation sets out the proposals for amendments to the voluntary guidelines. The consultation is primarily aimed at public service vehicle operators (and their representatives), police forces, football supporters and those that represent them, and other interested parties.

This list is not meant to be exhaustive or exclusive and responses are welcome from anyone with an interest in or views on the subject covered by this paper.

2.3 Scope

The voluntary guidelines apply to England and Wales. This consultation does not apply to Scotland, although Scottish operators travelling to games in England or Wales are expected to comply with the voluntary guidelines.

The consultation only seeks comment on the voluntary aspect of the guidelines. The legislative framework is a matter for Parliament and any comment on the continued relevance, or need to update the Sporting Events (Control of Alcohol) Act 1985 should be directed to the Department for Transport or elected representatives. It does not fall within the remit of the Senior Traffic Commissioner.

3.  Document Changes

The Senior Traffic Commissioner proposes to update the voluntary guidelines to reflect changes in both terminology and practices. The key changes are set out below, a document showing all tracked changes is attached as Annex A, and a ‘clean’ version is at Annex B.

3.1  Vehicle Type

The previous guidelines referred to coaches. Although this is the common form of transport, the legislation and guidelines apply to all vehicles operated as a public service vehicle. There is a concern that the description of coach may give the impression to operators of smaller vehicles, e.g. minibuses, that the guidelines do not apply to them. To remove any ambiguity the references to coach have been replaced by references to PSVs.

3.2 Amended Role Descriptor

To reflect a change in the terminology used within policing, references to Police Liaison Officer have been replaced with Dedicated Football Officer.

3.3 Notification to Dedicated Football Officer

The guidelines have been amended so that operators are to notify their local Dedicated Football Officer (DFO) of a booking to transport football supporters. This amends the current guidelines that set out that the DFO at the destination was to be notified. This change reflects that an operator is most likely to have an existing relationship with the local officer, and may not know the contact details of an officer based many miles away. All other requirements of the notification remain the same.

3.4 Offensive Chanting

Currently the guidelines only require a driver to notify a police officer of racist, homophobic or similar chanting that has taken place during the journey to the ground. The amended guidelines propose to extend this to include chanting that demonstrates hostility based on race, ethnicity religion or beliefs, sexual orientation, disability, and transgender identity or chanting of an otherwise grossly offensive or inflammatory nature which had taken place during the journey to the ground. This last point seeks to cover chanting related to tragic events which causes distress.

3.5 Compliance with Instructions

The proposed amendments include the expectation that PSV operators follow all reasonable instruction given by police or enforcement officers at all times. This includes, but is not limited to, routing and stopping arrangements. This is not a new expectation for operators as it has been included in the Senior Traffic Commissioner’s Statutory Document since 2013 and applies to all operators (freight and passenger). However, for transparency it has been included in the voluntary guidelines.

It is often necessary for coaches to stop in designated areas in and around grounds. Traffic commissioners have had to take regulatory action against operators and drivers who have ignored instructions, and whose actions have led to public disorder. Such behaviour is not appropriate for a reputable operator or driver. In addition, stopping and routing advice over a greater distance was recently given as part of the preparation for the 2023 FA Cup Final, where vehicles carrying supporters of Manchester City and Manchester United were asked to follow different routes and stop at designated motorway service areas enroute to London. Where appropriate, traffic commissioners expect operators to follow such advice.

3.6 Carriage of Children

Some football clubs have introduced safeguarding policies for unaccompanied minors. There is anecdotal evidence from police forces that unaccompanied minors carried on PSVs to football games are increasingly involved in anti-social behaviour at games. It would seem appropriate that operators carrying unaccompanied children have established safeguarding policies and that this should include arrangements for the nomination of at least one responsible adult for the minors carried.

4.  How to respond

This consultation was issued on 8 June 2023 and will run until 6 July 2023. Please ensure that your response reaches us before the closing date so that we can consider your comments.

The proposed amendments to the guidelines have been uploaded to accompany this document as an annex with the changes flagged in red, the Senior Traffic Commissioner welcomes comments from stakeholders on the changes made. It is anticipated that uploading documents in this way should assist users to easily identify and target their responses specifically to those changes. There is no requirement to provide comment on areas which have not changed.

The Senior Traffic Commissioner is particularly interested to hear views on whether:

• The proposed changes to the current guidance as set out in 3.1 to 3.5 above, are appropriate and proportionate and, if not, reasons for that view.

• The proposal set out in 3.6 above in relation to safeguarding is appropriate and proportionate, and any challenges that can be foreseen for operators to implement safeguarding policies.

When responding, state whether you are responding as an individual or representing the views of an organisation. If responding on behalf of a larger organisation:

• make it clear who the organisation represents;
• how the views of members were assembled.

To respond you can either:

4.1  Email

[email protected]

4.2  Post

Mark Richardson
Policy and Business Support Officer
Traffic Commissioner Corporate Office
Hillcrest House
386 Harehills Lane
Leeds
LS9 6NF

We do not expect you to submit evidence or views in response to every question listed, if not applicable.

5.  Freedom of information

Information provided in response to this consultation, including personal information, may be subject to publication or disclosure in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) or the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.

If you want information that you provide to be treated as confidential, be aware that, under the FOIA, there is a statutory code of practice with which public authorities must comply and which deals, amongst other things, with obligations of confidence.

In view of this, it would be helpful if you could explain to us why you regard the information you have provided as confidential. If we receive a request for disclosure of the information, we will take full account of your explanation, but we cannot give an assurance that confidentiality can be maintained in all circumstances. An automatic confidentiality disclaimer generated by your IT system will not, of itself, be regarded as binding on the Traffic Commissioners for Great Britain.

The Traffic Commissioners for Great Britain will process your personal data in accordance with the Data Protection Act, this will mean that your personal data will not be disclosed to third parties.

6.  Crown copyright

This consultation is covered by the rules of Crown copyright the Department for Transport and the UK government adhere to.