Government threatens to take out cowboys
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• A Government think tank is drawing up plans to confiscate 'cowboy' operators' trucks.
The working party was set-up last spring to weed out the cowboys, amid concern that an increasing number of trucks on Britain's roads are not controlled by the vehicle or operator licensing system.
In October, a check of 5,585 trucks in east and south-east London discovered that 9% of trucks were breaking 0-Licence regulations.
"Impounding vehicles is one possibility," says David Cockram, clerk of the Metropolitan Traffic Area Office and a member of the DTp working party. "Obviously it requires additiom resources. You can't put a 38-tonner on the back of a van and you've got to have a secure compound for the vehicles."
Cockram says the working party is also considering injunctions as a weapon against cowboy operators.