Police may pull out of roadside checks
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by Karen Miles • The police are discussing a withdrawal from haulage enforcement, including most roadside checks and all drivers' hours investigations.
The police role in truck enforcement could be cut, it is thought, if there is increased input from the Vehicle Inspectorate's traffic and vehicle examiners.
The move is part of a Government review of the future of policing: a decision is due next year.
The Association of Chief Police Officers and the Home Office agree that VI and police duplication could be reduced in the investigation of criminal activity in the transport industry.
A top-ranking police source involved with haulage enforcement says: "We believe we'll have less and less to do with roadside inspections and that the VI will expand its function.
"We don't think it will fall to our traffic officers to be so involved in investigations of hauliers sparked off by the checks."
But police officers fear the VI does not have the resources to pursue lengthy drivers' hours investigations.
This week, the VI is expected to announce efficiency gains over the next year of at least 8% of its budget. Police officers and VI staff are already defend ing police involvement in goods vehicle enforcement. They point out that the expertise which some officers have in this field would be hard to replace.
And Roads and Traffic Minister Robert Key stresses that stopping vehicles must be left to the police. A source close to the Department of Transport says "out of hours" checks by the police during the night are expected to continue.
Police officers are already starting to target haulage cowboys, who are putting their least roadworthy vehicles on the road after dark (CM 7-13 July).