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28% of UK Has sent off the road
Page 11
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• More than 350 UK-registered trucks were ordered off the road in the latest one-day blitz on goods vehicles this month because of serious defects.
The national targeted check on 10 June was one of the Operation Mermaid series and was co-ordinated by the Metropolitan Police with the Vehicle & Operator Services Agency (VOSA) at 46 checkpoints around the country. The results were announced last week (16 June).
Of the 359 prohibitions on road-worthiness grounds half were bad enough to be immediate (179) and the rest (180) were delayed to allow vehicles to be taken back to their base for repairs.
In addition 50 trucks were given prohibitions for overloading, 33 drivers hours prohibitions were issued and six prohi
bitions were handed out for defective speed limiters. Four prohibitions were for breaking the rules on carrying hazardous substances.
There were 54 foreign vehicles among a total of more than 1,000 trucks checked. Eight foreign-registered trucks were given prohibitions and five received verbal warnings.
The checks carried out on Operation Mermaid are based on intelligence and VOSA says that the prohibition rate does not reflect the overall condition of the British HGV fleet. In routine roadside checks, which target suspect trucks, the prohibition rate is significantly lower, at around 24%, compared to 28% during Operation Mermaid.
The percentages of prohibitions are roughly in line with other recent crackdowns under Operation Mermaid.