DOING THINGS BY THE BOOK
Page 7
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The Vehicle Inspectorate is claiming "astonishing accuracy" for its mobile weigher test (see page 4). So all those operators who think they can dodge weight checks simply by steering clear of fixed sites may well be in for a shock when they're directed into an unfamiliar layby and on to the VI's latest weapon against overloading, the mobile weighpad. It will certainly give the enforcers more flexibility in the battle against overloaders. Could we see some night-time weigh checks now—or would that be asking too much from the VI and its diminishing budget? The VI wants mobile weighers to handle 20% of its total weighing (107,417 vehicles were weighed in 1995/96, leading to 3,048 convictions). However, we'd like to think that the adoption of weighpads would lead to additional, rather than substitutional, enforcement. Before everyone hits the panic button the enforcement agencies have yet to come up with a code of practice for their use; similar codes already exist for static weighbridges used for enforcement purposes. Let's hope the industry will be consulted on the final version of that document. We also hope the current revisions to the existing codes don't take too long: having a code of practice is one thing,
keeping to it is another. It's clear from stories that regular ly appear in Commercial Motor's legal pages that not every enforcement officer either knows or sticks to the codes we've already got. Moreover, truck operators should have easy access to the code of practice so they can be sure their vehicles have been weighed correctly. If overloaders are going to be brought to book, then it has to be done by the book_