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Farmers fight back but haulage toll rises
Page 6
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• The National Farmers Union has refuted charges (CM 4-10 May and 11-17 May) that farmers are taking advantage of a loophole opened up by VED changes in the Budget to undertake haulage work with unsuitable vehicles and no 0licence.
"If overloaded farm trailers without lights are being used to transport spoil, then their operators are committing offences and the enforcement agencies can prosecute. We doubt your contention that there are many cases of farmers carrying out haulage work with farm tractors and trailers," says the NFU.
However, Commercial Motor has been given numerous examples of incidents involving dangerous and overloaded tractors on the road. Allan Easton, an owner-driver from North Yorkshire, saw an agricultural logging trailer career off the road when the drawbar bolts gave way and severed the hydraulic brake pipe.
Two small West Country hauliers say the problem in their area is getting worse, with farmers commonly undertaking hire-and-reward work.
Commercial Motor's findings have been backed by the Insti tute of Transport Administration, which has photographic evidence of what it calls "two prime examples of non-farm movements: firstly, the hauling of a container over a long distance in North Yorkshire. The journey ended when it lost its rear wheels outside a police station." The incident has been confirmed by Superintendent Cyril Welburn, head of the traffic department at North Yorkshire Police "The second, more recent, case was spotted outside Chester with a tractor pulling a lowloader with a third party's name on, carrying a plant hire company's excavator," says the ETA.
Welburn has not noticed an upsurge in accidents involving tractors on the public roads, but says: "There needs to be some kind of control and licencing system, otherwise it gets out of hand and there is a road safety problem."
El The North West Water Authority has promised to investigate our story that it has been employing a farmer-haulier to transport spoil from the ASS (CM 4-10 May). "We will get to the bottom of this," says fleet administration manager John Wilson.