1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148 
Enforcement cash is 'figure juggling'
Page 6
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
by David Harris • An extra £350,000 funding to enforce the law against unsafe commercial vehicles is inadequate and unrelated to the amount hauliers pay in licence fees, according to the Road Haulage Association. "At best you could say that it's creative accounting. We certainly want an explanation of the way the Department of Transport is juggling with the figures," says Tim Inman, operations director at the RHA.
The extra cash, which will go into the Vehicle Inspectorate's (VI) enforcement budget, was pledged by Steven Norris in the House of Commons last week. It will be funded partly by efficiency savings and partly by the imminent £2 increase in the 0-licence fee.
Sceptics in the industry say the extra £800,000 eventually raised by the increase will far outstrip the extra funding. Inman says: "Those who operate within the law will not grudge the burden of clearer fees if the money is seen to be put to targeted enforcement.
"That said, given the information available at the moment it would seem that the people at Mar sham Street need to explain their arithmetic."
A Department of Transport spokeswoman says there is no guarantee that when the 0-licence increase comes into effect next year the extra cash it raises will be ploughed back into the VI. The £350,000 will provide 15 extra enforcement staff on top of the VI's current 413.
Despite the RHA's criticisms, other organisations, including the Freight Transport Association (FTA) and the safety campaign Brake welcome the extra £350,000.
But FTA director general David Green adds: "We would like more specifically targeted enforcement aimed at identifying and inspecting the most likely offenders. And it is important for the penalties imposed on those caught to be a realistic disincentive to offend."
VI chief executive Ron Oliver says: "We're delighted to win the extra funding so that we can provide further enforcement."