HSE under fire over Continentals
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THE Health and Safety Executive has come under fire for claiming that there is no evidence that foreign tankers are carrying unmarked hazardous loads on Britain's roads, reports our Parliamentary correspondent.
The view of the HSE was relayed to MPs by Junior Employment Minister David Waddington, at the end of last month in response to a question by South-east Essex Conservative MP Sir Bernard Braine.
But their view is contradicted in a survey submitted by Essex County Council earlier in July.
The survey, which was fairly limited, showed that only about one third of lorries carrying dangerous substances complied with either British or EEC rules. Just under a quarter carried no markings at all, and there were some lorries which were carrying completely unidentifiable cargoes.
The survey also showed that British and Continental tankers were equally bad offenders when it came to sticking to the rules.
A particular problem that was revealed was that some tankers, which occasionally transported hazardous goods, still had the markings on, even though their goods were perfectly harmless.
And the Association of County Councils also submitted evidence from other parts of the country showing that the rules were being broken. There was one case where a tanker marked as carrying a dangerous load was actually carrying tinned meat.
Sir Bernard, whose constituency includes the Canvey Island complex, told CM: "The reply is characteristic of the timidity of the HSE and is unsatisfactory and the matter will have to be raised again.
"If the HSE bothered to make inquiries it would find that a number of chief fire officers were not satisfied with the present position whereby unmarked Continental tankers travel on British roads. They would like to see the HazChem scheme used."
He said some fire chiefs wanted powers to ban them from going on the roads at all.
Transport Under Secretary Reginald Eyre said regular spot checks by Department of Transport traffic examiners had not revealed problems caused by unidentifiable loads or misleading markings.