Freight Emergency

Driving a lorry is tough work compared to some jobs and many drivers are professional and work well within the boundaries of the UK law.

With the change of the Cabotage rules back in June, we are now seeing more and more foreign trucks on our roads, and potentially endangering lives.

LORRY drivers are endangering the public as a result of tiredness and faulty vehicles, police chief Richard Brunstrom warned yesterday.

The Chief Constable of North Wales listed disturbing examples of drivers who had been at the wheel for 19 days as he addressed a cross-party group of AMs on the problem.

However, while calling for a national debate on the threat, he said a clampdown on the problem would harm the Welsh economy.

Mr Brunstrom, who said that “people are literally dying” because of poor driving and maintenance standards, believes there is a particular problem with foreign-owned vehicles, particularly from new EU member states.

He said: “Something like 1% of lorries on our roads here in the UK are registered in other European countries but 8% of the fatalities involving commercial vehicles are caused by foreign-registered vehicles.”

Mr Brunstrom told the AMs there was “evidence to support the contention that foreign lorries are not as well managed [and] regulated as UK ones”.

He continued: “We have targeting regimes to identify rogue hauliers and rogue operators and rogue drivers on a European-wide basis now, but I would have to say there is nothing like enough reporting taking place here and elsewhere.”

The scale of the threat was demonstrated last month when the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) staged its biggest ever clampdown on unsafe lorries.

Officers inspected 3,628 “dangerous” vehicles – of which 2,273 were foreign-registered – and 1,889 were taken off the road.

Of the 1,355 UK-registered vehicles stopped by VOSA, 683 were breaking the law.

A driver stopped and arrested near Holyhead was carrying a false licence and two digital driver cards which he could use to falsify the hours he had worked. Another driver was found to have worked for 19 consecutive days without the required rest period. He was ordered to immediately take a 45-hour rest period.

The Chief Constable said: “There is an industry to defeat and undermine the European legislation.” The situation was “absolutely frightening”, he said.

However, he added that if Wales acts to stop dangerous lorry drivers the nation could pay an economic penalty.

He said: “If we start enforcing the law rigorously on the A55, we run a risk of severe economic damage to the port of Holyhead because the traffic will simply transfer to Liverpool if there was a lighter touch there.”

Describing new powers which will come into force next year, he said: “The police for the first time in the UK will be able to take effectively a fine – technically it’s a deposit in lieu of a fine – there and then. So all of a sudden foreign-registered vehicles are going to be subject to effective UK law.

“Previously, of course, you could just drive off and get back to your country and escape the jurisdiction.”

He added: “We do need to work in partnership with VOSA and we are getting next to nothing in terms of leadership, direction and support from Government – in London in particular – to address a bigger proportion of resources to this.”

Mike Farmer, a director of the Road Haulage Association, said: “We have no problem with proper, targeted enforcement. As in all industries, there is a very small proportion of cowboy operators.

“We want rid of them, along with everybody else. Let’s have standard, properly targeted enforcement.”

The full article can be found here

If their is sufficient evidence that foreign lorries are not as safe as ours on the road, then these need to be checked at the port, and the drivers made to tran-ship their loads if they have been driving too long or if their vehicles are unsafe.

The amount of vehicles that have been impounded after checks is significant, and it’s best in my opinion to keep these off the road from the start before another tragic accident happens

Kevin

Load Rescue and Freight Recovery

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