Government is to impound trucks...
Page 6
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
by David Harris • A firm timetable for the introduction of the impounding of illegal trucks will be announced next year, says Roads Minister Steven Norris.
Norris told the Road Haulage Association's annual conference in Madeira that anyone operating dangerous trucks or running without 0-licences could have their vehicles confiscated.
"I could not commit to impounding before," says Norris, "but I am certainly keen that by next year we will have a firmer timetable." This means that both main political parties now back impounding—Labour says that Joan Whalley, Norris's shadow-cabinet equivalent, will support any "sensible impounding measures he introduces".
"We have consistently said that any sensible impounding measures will get no opposition from us," says a Labour spokesman, "and if we come to power we will introduce legisla tion very quickly." Norris says that one reason why an impounding timetable will not be published until next year is that the Department of Transport is still assessing the number of cowboys working without 0-licences.
The DOT checked 2,000 vehicles on the roadside last week, specifically to establish the proportion running without 0-licences. It is expected to take six weeks to analyse the statistics. Norris says: "Before we decide exactly what measures to take we must establish the exact number of unlicensed operators: is it one in ten, one in a hundred or one in a thousand?"
Mary Williams, of haulage safety campaign Brake, welcomes Norris' commitment. She says: "We see this as a major achievement for the campaign as we have long insisted that you need to assess the size of the problem before you decide what to do."
RHA director-general Bryan Colley says he is very encouraged by the strengthening of Government resolve.