Battered bridge blitz
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• North Yorkshire trading standards officers plan to target hauliers who ignore new weight restrictions imposed on the county's bridges.
This follows the case of a driver who admitted taking his 38-tonne artic across the historic Cawood Bridge over the River Ouse, which has a 7.5tonne limit. Selby magistrates fined him 1500.
Trading standards officer Richard Flinton says the offence was discovered by chance—but warns that the county will now monitor bridges systematically.
The county council imposed weight limits on almost 50 bridges following the lntroduction of the 41-tonne limit on 1 January, but Flinton admits the council only has resources to set up checkpoints at the most vulnerable bridges.
• Three months after the introduction of the 40-tonne limit, less than two-thirds of bridges in the Highlands and Islands region of Scotland have been checked to see if they are strong enough to take the heavier trucks.
Councillor John Munro says that of the 615 bridges checked so far, out of nearly 2000 in the region, 258 have failed.
The Freight Transport Association slammed Scottish local authorities last year for failing to carry out assessments before the launch of the higher weight limits (CM 26 Nov-2 Dec 1998).