Dip blitzes overloading
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• A major crackdown on foreign trucks will be launched after Easter by Transport Secretary Paul Channon. New port controls are to be introduced to stop European Community and other overseas hauliers from entering Britain overloaded.
Channon also wants to use the new checks to catch out British lorry drivers breaking the 38-tonne limit in the knowledge that once they are abroad their lorries will be legal — but he has ruled out the automatic weighing of all lorries entering and leaving the country, despite calls from the powerful all-party Public Accounts Committee last week, who said that not enough was being done to stop the £600 million of damage caused to Britain's roads and bridges each year by lorries. The MPs protested at DTp delays over tackling the problem and said that all lorries should be checked (CM 3-9 March).
Channon, however, seems to believe that would cause too much chaos, although he has accepted that many of the MPs' criticisms are justified.
As part of his blitz against overloaded lorries, the police are to be asked to make more spot checks at roadside weighbridges. New rules are also being introduced to ensure that lorries are safely tied down on ferries when they are crossing the Channel.
Details will come with the Government's official response to the PAC report, in which MPs pointed out that a particularly high proportion of foreign lorries were found to be overloaded.