EC wants more truck checks
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• The European Commission has developed a radical plan to step up the number of roadside police patrols so that every member country stops at least 30% of the vehicles using its roads each year.
The call for more frequent checks follows pressure by the Germans, whose police are more vigilant than most. Their enthusiasm is said to place the German haulage industry at a disadvantage.
Figures for 1984 (the latest available) show that the Germans checked 305,208 vehicles on the roads and inspected 26,439 hauliers' premises. This was the second highest total of EEC checks, after France. In Britain in 1984, there were 215,875 vehicle checks as well as 47,500 "silent controls". No records were kept on visits to hauliers.
Employers say that the aim of checking 30% of the vehicles on the roads of each EEC country every year is too ambitious.