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EU influx sees penalty void
Page 12
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The DfT has no plans to deal with drivers from the 10 new EU states. Chris Tindall reports.
THE DEPARTMENT for Transport admits it has no plans to introduce fixed penalties and deposits for offending foreign drivers before 10 new member states join the European Union in two months' time.
The admission comes after the Vehicle & Operator Services Agency (VOSA) chief executive Maurice Newey told a transport select committee the risk of HG Vs being in a poor condition increases the further east in Europe you travel.
He also acknowledged foreign vehicles' compliance arrangements with regard to drivers' hours and tacho offences are "considerably less good" than UK-based vehicles.
Committee member George Stevenson pressed Newey after he admitted not knowing which countries are sending unroadworthy vehicles into the UK.
Stevenson said:"We ought to be asking your agency to identify the countries of origin. In May we shall have 10 new members of the European Union, many of them former eastern European countries.which is the area you are most concerned about."
Newey said VOSA was doing all it could to crack down on offending vehicles, but introducing fixed penalties and deposits was something only the DfT could legislate on.
A DfT spokesman admits the new EU states may "free up trade", allowing greater scope for eastern European trucks to run to the UK. However, he adds: "It's something we are talking to the Home Office about, but we have no firm plans."