DIRECTIVE NO THREAT TO UK HAULIERS • In view of
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the report in your issue of July 5 (pages 4 and 5), I write to assure your readers that there is no "new threat" to British hauliers following the Transport Council Agreement on June 30.
The amendments that were agreed to Directive 8513 on lorry axle weights make no difference whatsoever to the current position of British hauliers on international journeys. The position remains that all hauliers, wherever their vehicles are registered, must observe the rules on weights and dimensions that apply in the state in which they are travelling. No member state may impose stricter rules on visiting vehicles than are applied to vehicles registered in that member state.
Some member states have been concerned that enforcement of our 38-tonne limit may not be exercised impartially. This is not true. The Secretary of State assured the Council that the gross weights and axle weights for which the UK has a derogation would be properly enforced on all combined vehicles on international journeys while they are in the UK.
D J Lyness Department of Transport, London SW1P 3EB