Safety to be a top priority
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by Karen Miles • Lorry safety looks set to climb the political agenda as Labour MPs press for the issue to be studied by the powerful Parliamentary Transport Select Committee.
Labour transport spokeswoman Joan Walley and Labour MP and vice-chair of the all-party Committee Gwyneth Dunwoody are pushing for truck safety and enforcement to be scrutinised.
Dunwoody, who is also patron of the lorry safety pressure group Brake, expects to find out within two weeks whether the Committee will take up the subject.
Committee chairman and ex-transport secretary Paul Channon is currently studying a letter from Brake asking for the issue to be investigated.
An investigation would be expected to take several sessions, with MPs questioning witnesses such as Vehicle Inspectorate chief executive Ron Oliver, transport ministers, trade associations and Brake.
Although Transport Secretary Brian Mawhinney will not be bound to implement the Committee's recommendations he will have to reply to the issues raised and give reasons for his response.
Meanwhile, Walley accuses the VI of "massaging" its truck weighing figures in order to meet its Department of Transport agreed figures.
In answer to a Parliamentary Question VI chief executive Ron Oliver showed that goods vehicle weighings went up nationally from more than 10,000 in September 1994 to more than 18,000 and nearly 23,000 for the following two months. By January this year weighings had come back down to 6,700.
Oliver denies "fixing" the figures, saying the changes reflect normal management action to bring weighings up to the required total.