Failures rise
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• More than 10,000 trucks were found to be running overloaded in 1988/89, says the latest Licensing Authorities' annual report.
This figure, up a startling 60% on 1987/88, represents some 20% of all the trucks stopped at police checks.
It follows a crackdown on overloading by traffic examiners, who weighed 50% more lorries this year than in the previous 12 months.
Foreign drivers were re sponsible for many of the overloading offences — in the South East, overloaded foreign CVs outnumbered UK offenders by more than two to one. The Department of Transport recognises that there is confusion over the UK 38-tonne limit, and is issuing ownlanguage booklets to explain the rules to foreign drivers.
Licensing Authorites want to see tougher action taken against operators who flout the hours restrictions.