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FTA slams Lib Denns' plans to shift road freight to rail
Page 8
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By Joanna Bourke
THE FREIGHT Transport Association (FTA) has ridiculed the Liberal Democrats' proposal that shifting road freight to rail will combat a 67% increase in the number of unroadworthy HGVs on UK roads Despite the Department for Transport (DtT) attributing the rise in the number of unsatisfactory trucks to increased levels of targeted enforcement by VOSA, Liberal Democrat shadow transport secretary Norman Baker has called for a shift to rail to reduce the number of unroadworthy foreign trucks.
Following a Parliamentary question by Baker. the DfT said that in 2007, 58.635 HGV prohibitions were issued compared to 35.158 in 2003. Of the offences in 2007, 26,755 were by non-UK-registered vehicles. "There appears to be a disproportionate problem with a large number of lorries from outside the UK failing checks," Baker says.
"We need a more sustainable freight strategy that cuts carbon emissions, reduces accidents and curtails congestion."
A D IT spokeswoman has hit back, saying that since 2005 VOSA has more than doubled the number of checks on foreign trucks. "The rise in prohibitions is a result of increased enforcement,she adds.
Improving the Felixstowe to Nuneaton rail line would he cheaper than widening the A14, a Lib Dem spokeswoman argues.
FTA communications director
Jo Tanner retorts: "To suggest that Britain's transport problems would be solved by rail is too simplistic. Lib Dems' anti-truck stance puts them in danger of throwing the baby out with the bathwater."
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