0-licence fines set to increase
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by Karen Miles • Court penalties for hauliers running without an Operator's Licence look set to increase following Government pressure to force magistrates to impose fines nearer the full £2,500 allowable for each offence.
The Magistrates Association is expected to meet transport minister Steven Norris soon to discuss his request for higher fines. Any recommendations for change would then be reported to the association's July meeting of its 80-member council. Norris's move reflects impatience over the low level of fines imposed by magistrates for the offence, despite a request in 1993 by the then transport minister Robert Key for heavier penalties.
According to the Department of Transport, hauliers running without an 0-licence and who were called before magistrates between April and September last year were fined an average .009—which the DOT says is well below the £450 promised to Key in the previous year. The law allows a maximum fine of £2,5(X).
In a letter to the Association, Norris says unless there are higher fines the work clone by the Vehicle Inspectorate and the police will prove of little value.
He concludes: "I would be very grateful for the cooperation of the Association and magistrates in sup porting the Department's efforts to eliminate the serious problem of HGV safety...by awarding fines at a level closer to the maximum provided by the law."