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192 
OUR CHANCE FOR JUSTICE IS HERE
Page 3
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DRA ENr INDARc 01J
'Pay up or be clamped.' Or to put it another way: Hallelujah! How long have we waited for the joinedup thinking that insists on foreign offenders paying an immediate bond before being released? It's what happens to our drivers on the Continent and as irritating as the inequity between the UK and countries like Spain has been, most here favour emulation rather than condemnation.
"If anyone wants to run
in this country, they must respect our roads and laws"
Police port crackdowns, the Radio 4 programme on driver fatigue, the Burns report a common theme with reports on driver misbehaviour is the proportion of foreign offenders stopped and found with faults. In Vosa's 2004/5 effectiveness report, the drivers' hours prohibition rate for domestic vehicles was 6.7%; it was 20.8% for foreign vehicles. The overloading rates were 9.7% (UK) and 13,5% (foreign). Overall, the prohibition rate for foreign vehicles was a stunning 31.5% and although France's fleet had an impressive 4% fault rate, Ireland made up for it with 31.9%.
Foreign vehicles on our roads are not, overall, as safe or as law-abiding as they should be. This undermines the spirit of fair competition, undermines road safety and, until the amendment is passed, undermines our enforcement regime. The amendment is necessary for the sake of justice, safety and, frankly, our self-esteem. It's time we insist that if anyone wants to run in this country, they must respect our roads and our laws.
But this will be a challenge for Vosa. It will take organisation and considerable resources. Where will the clamped trucks live at least in the interim period until people realise we are serious? The amendment should have the same revolutionary force as the impounding bill, which allows any truck without a licence to be taken away. Vasa has intelligent targeting capabilities, and there was a huge boost in the number of foreign vehicles checked in 2004/5. Let's hope it can do more than notify the licensing authorities of the country in question. It is essential that our enforcement agencies are given the resources and space they need to clean up the ports, target left-hand-drive vehicles and raise the standards of everyone hoping to do business in the UK.