The FTA carried out this survey during February and March and it is the first in a series of four, which will be published during 2005, in order to assess implementation progress and impact. NAI Fuller Peiser are particularly interested in the impact reduced working hours will have on the operation and location of warehouses and whether there will need to be substantial changes in distribution networks, and thus operating locations, due to the new regulations imposing distance limits on drivers' working days.

Key findings from the first survey are:

• As at 17 March 90% of respondents were still not fully compliant with the requirements of the Directive
• 77% of respondents have sought to employ more drivers in order to meet the needs of the Directive and maintain their current level of operations
• 84% of respondents have sought to employ additional non-driving staff in order to enable drivers' time to be dedicated to their core driving responsibilities.

An inevitable conclusion from this first survey is that more staff are required in order to do the same amount of work, therefore costs will certainly rise. In addition, average wage levels rose by between 2 and 4% in 2004 with a similar increase anticipated in 2005.

The deepest impact of the Directive will be felt in areas already experiencing the most acute driver shortages with the East, South East and East Midlands regions of England suffering worst.

A clear finding from the survey is the importance of Periods of Availability (PoA) not being counted as working time - a vital concession negotiated by the FTA and other industry representatives. Two-thirds of respondents said that PoAs (times when drivers are available for work but not required to work, such as queuing at a distribution centre) will be very important in limiting the worse effects of the Directive.

FTA Policy Director James Hookham said, "The Road Transport Directive represents the biggest compliance challenge faced by the transport industry in almost 40 years. Given that the regulations themselves were only published last week, it is not at all surprising that only one in ten companies consider themselves currently compliant. FTA anticipates a very sharp and fast increase in that figure before the next stage of the survey is completed in June.

"FTA is itself providing a wide range of services in order to assist and support its members in meeting their statutory obligations and this work with NAI Fuller Peiser will provide excellent information for us to guide and advise companies in their future operations within the Working Time Directive."

"The pressure is on for companies to comply with the Road Transport Directive," comments Martin Coles, Managing Partner at NAI Fuller Peiser. "Businesses that have not already done so need to take steps to ensure their drivers do not exceed the 48 hour average working week.  Property issues - such as warehouse location, functionality and layout - will have to be addressed, as they will undoubtedly play a major part in providing the logistical support and improvements in efficiency that are necessary to help businesses on the road to compliance."