Cash limits will hit roadside checks...
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by Juliet Morrison • Hauliers can expect to encounter fewer roadside weight checks this year, thanks to cuts in local authority Trading Standards budgets.
Kent and Oxfordshire county councils could end roadside trading standards tests altogether because of Government budget restrictions; other local authorities could follow suit. An enforcement chief has warned that this would lead to "anarchy" on the roads.
The Vehicle Inspectorate, concerned with the safety implications of overloading, is already being forced to make cuts of 20% this year. Kent, with several ports and three major motorways, is one of the busiest areas for truck traffic in the UK; last year it was involved in 104 weighing checks. On 23 February the county council is due to decide whether to end roadside checks: it says the move would save £80,000 a year. It says it has targeted roadside checks for possible cuts because the VI has its own patrols.
Oxfordshire, which weighed 1,629 trucks last year, has already suspended check weighing until councillors vote on the issue on 14 February. It estimates that cutting checks would save £50,000 a year.