The Office of Rail & Road (ORR) are the new regulator for Highways England

They  have issued a Draft enforcement policy for Highways England as part of a in a consultation process that will run to 25th September.

HE could be fined in excess of £25M if it seriously contravenes its governing principles,

The regulator plans to take the following steps before fining Highways England:

Step 1 – deciding whether to take statutory enforcement action

Step 2 – notifying Highways England of an intention to take action and giving the body a chance to defend its actions or indicate measures being taken to rectify the problem

Step 3 – issuing a notice to Highways England

Step 4 – monitoring compliance with the notice

Step 5 – issuing a fine

The paper says: “We will generally impose fines at a level which will have a reputational as opposed to a punitive impact on Highways England. For most contraventions where we decide to issue a fine we would not normally expect to issue a fine which exceeds £2.5M.

Highways England is required to comply with the Road Investment Strategy and the licence issued to it by the transport secretary.

Peter Silverman
8th July 2015