VI drops 450 cases in bid to cut costs
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by Karen Miles • Hundreds of prosecutions against hauliers have been abandoned as part of a Vehicle Inspectorate economy drive.
The news of the 450 abandoned cases leaked out to a chorus of condemnation by road transport industry representatives, VI unions and Brake, the lorry safety pressure group.
Traffic Commissioners are understood to have complained directly ,to VI management over the scuppering of so many prosecution files.
The case loss, which represents a big chunk of the 7,000 VI prosecutions brought in the past year, is ten times the number first admitted by VI management in February. It has prompted accusations from Brake of a "Government cover-up".
The full story will emerge in August when the annual report from the Traffic Commissioners is released; the VI declines to comment.
The Department of Transport has washed its hands of the affair, saying it has nothing to do with VI administrative policy. "Ministers don't prosecute, they delegate that to the VI," says a spokesman.
The work wasted by VI staff on preparing the cases—estimated by one source to have cost up to L450,000—comes as the VI strives to make 20% efficiency gains.
Union officials and Brake blame the problems on the closure of six of the VI's regional administration centres in the past 18 months.
Brake director Mary Williams says: "The Government has previously assured us there wouldn't be any problem (with the office closures) but this shows a horrendous loss of cases. This is sending out all the wrong messages to cowboy operators."
And Bryan Colley, director-general of the Road Haulage Association, says: "To lose nearly 7% of cases is a significant figure at a time when everyone is calling for better enforcement. ..especially if people are getting away with it for administrative convenience."
• A parliamentary written answer shows that convictions obtained by the VI in English and Welsh magistrates courts for mechanical defects fell by 53% between 1984 and 1993. Brake believes that around 5% of all trucks are running without an 0-licence. It has repeated its demand for the Government to authorise their seizure.