VI denies going soil on cowboys
Page 6
Page 7
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• Allegations that the prosecution of "cowboy" operators is being severely hampered by budgetary limits imposed by the Vehicle Inspectorate were denied this week.
The VI denies that legal action is being dropped against operators planning to plead not guilty in at least two of the eight traffic areas, where enforcement sections have hit their budget limit for prosecutions. The funding crisis has blown up just five months into the financial year.
The traffic areas concerned have been told they must be tougher when deciding if they can justify the expense of paying solicitors to handle the not guilty cases. And staff have been told there is little, if any, extra money to bail them out of their shortfall.
But enforcement staff warn that this will let off cowboy operators who plead not guilty, while unfairly hitting operators who plead guilty. They also say the instructions are affecting morale and the ability of an already-hard pressed staff to enforce the law.
The VI denies prosecution activity will be hit in the areas — it says that local managers will have to improve their efficiency and make the most of limited resources. Some money may also be taken from other traffic areas to subsidise the shortfall, but there is no chance of more money from Government.
The VI strongly denies it has instructed the troubled traffic areas to go no further than writing warning letters to operators who plan to plead not guilty.
John Schoek, VI operations, support and projects manager says: "We have issued no instructions to that effect whatsoever. But we have told our local managers they must look carefully at every case they plan to take to court. We don't want to take frivolous cases."
Schock denies there has been a miscalculation in setting the prosecution budget. He says the shortfalls result from some late invoicing from solicitors and the transitional disruption caused by using traffic examiners instead of solicitors for guilty pleas. He adds: "Nationally we've not overspent but we have some inevitable peaks and troughs around the country."
One traffic area enforcement manager says: "The VI must have made a big mistake on working out how much enforcement costs. There's a national budget and if they try to readjust, it will just rob the other traffic areas who are within budget. It will just have a knock on effect on enforcement all round."
Another enforcement manager says his traffic area has had its prosecution budget cut to less than a quarter of what it was when all cases were handled by solicitors. He says morale among traffic examiners has never been so low because they can investigate a complex case where the only action is a formal warning letter.