DfT launches Brexit preparation campaign for hauliers

The DfT has launched a campaign to ensure businesses and hauliers are prepared for the UK to leave the EU on 31 October 2019.

The public awareness drive will make sure hauliers obtain everything they need from traders to get through border customs smoothly, reducing risk of delays at ports.

The campaign will include a billboard and media advertising campaign and the establishment of 150 pop-up centres across the 10 countries covering the nationalities that process the most UK-bound road freight. Millions of multi-language information handbooks and pocket guides will also be delivered.

As part of the campaign, an email will be sent to 70,000 UK operators, industry bodies and other interested parties detailing essential information for those driving to the EU after 31 October.

If the UK leaves the EU without a deal, hauliers will be required to go through customs checks when exporting goods to the EU from the UK. It is the responsibility of traders to apply and obtain the right paperwork for the goods hauliers are carrying.

The UK government will also be providing hauliers with a handbook and a pocket guide to clearly set out how they can prepare themselves, their vehicles and their goods so that they can continue to travel freely. The how-to guides will be available across the UK and the continent at pop-up facilities in service stations, truck stops and petrol stations.

Other initiatives in the information campaign include messages embedded into every booking confirmation email issued to hauliers by ferry operators, advising that anyone travelling from 31 October will require specific customs paperwork.

There will be tailored emails in relevant languages to influential trade bodies in countries across the EU covering border readiness and new traffic management requirements.