RHA chief calls for weighing switch
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• All responsibility for weighing trucks should switch from county council Trading Standards officers to the Department of Transport, says the Road Haulage Association.
Tim Inman, RHA operations director, says the Dip has a better understanding of hauliers. Hauliers are being misled by Trading Standards officers offering weighbridge lists so that they can weigh their loads anywhere in the UK, he claims.
"Almost half of hauliers are prosecuted for overloading on single axles," says Inman, "yet there are only nine self-weigh bridges in the UK where hauliers can weigh individual axle loads — and five of these are at ports."
He also wants the tolerance on overloads to be raised from 5% to 10% and believes the Dip supports this view.
But Hampshire Trading Standards officers, who recently prosecuted 155 hauliers for overloading (CM 5-11 Sept), say that every prosecution in this case was based on gross overloading.