Minister announces PSVAR exemptions until 2026

Baroness Vere, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Transport, has announced that home-to-school PSVAR will be derogated until 2026.

Speaking at the UKCOA Conference at Farnborough International Exhibition & Conference Centre – the venue for ITT Hub on 11 – 12 May – she told delegates in her keynote speech that the DfT will now review how PSVAR is applied to the home-to-school sector in a process which will finish at the end of 2023, and that the exemptions system will contnue until 2026.

“We need to provide an accessible coach sector,” she told UKCOA members. “But we know that some operators are not there yet. We need to progress this much faster.”

But Baroness Vere said that there needs to be a root-and-branch review of the legislation and the market: “We have to make sure it’s working properly, and have got to bridge the gap between with medium-term exemptions which will last until 2026. This is an opportunity for us to work together.

• A full report of the UKCOA’s stimulating conference – during which there was huge support for biofuels, and serious doubts raised about the green credentials of hydrogen – will be in the next edition of Bus and Coach Buyer, out on 25 March.