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Cut out the cowboys
Page 6
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• Three-quarters of Britain's hauliers would like to see tougher penalties imposed on transport companies which break the law, provided that the punishment is imposed consistently across the country.
According to an exclusive Commercial Motor survey published this week, 75% of hauliers want "more severe" penalties imposed by the Licensing Authorities, although 72% are aware that the LAs' decisions are inconsistent.
Trucking companies all over Britain told us that, in the words of an Essex operator, "We all know who the cowboys are — you see them on the road every day — so surely the authorities can quickly find them and put a stop to their businesses."
We contacted 200 road transport companies and discovered that a highly responsible majority of operators want to see the haulage industry cleaned up — 19% are unhappy with the current Traffic Area Office system and 51% reckon that LAs are far too lenient with offending operators.
A 54% majority think that the LAs fail to understand the restrictions and demands made upon their businesses commercially, almost the same proportion (53%) believe that the creation of a single enforcement agency combining Traffic Area Offices with the Vehicle Inspectorate will improve enforcement levels.
Some 60% of the operators also welcome the move to make Western LA John Carpenter the Senior Traffic Commissioner and LA, with the responsibility for overseeing the system across the board.
The Road Haulage Association says that this is a clear sign of optimism for the industry, because 59% is a "high figure, and a lot of hauliers obviously think that a measure of consistency can be imposed from the top. . that's good." But the RHA still wants to see "more consistency in the Magistrates Courts. They are much more inconsistent than the LAs: our members experience tremendous variations from one Magistrates Court to another."
The FTA believes that better enforcement will give the system more credibility in the long run, and it is surprised to see such a high level of hauliers satisfied with the current set-up. "Whenever we get operators together," says the