60% in LAs' report
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The Western Traffic Area under John Carpenter (who is expected to become the first Senior Traffic Commissioner under the Palmer reorganisation) more than doubled its prosecutions on tachograph offences. Metropolitan Area Licensing Authority Ronald Ashford is urging the Government to take a closer look at hours infringements: "I suspect the abuse of these rules is more widespread than we realise," he says.
Concern over vehicle maintenance was voiced by many LAs in the report: Carpenter cites a deterioration in maintenance standards, with prohibitions up by nearly 16%.
Over 30% of UK vehicles checked at ports in the SouthEast had "dangerous faults" which, says LA Michael Turner, is symptomatic of the state of vehicles "returning from long Continental journeys without proper attention being paid to routine maintenance".
'Cowboy' hauliers who oper ate without a licence will face a concerted effort by the TAOs to get them off the road.
The level of drink-driving offences remained static, causing concern particularly in South Wales and the NorthEast. About 40 HGV drivers a month are found guilty of drink-driving in London, but Ashford reports that the threat of 0-licence revocation on a second conviction has so far kept offenders in check.
The number of goods Operator Licences issued in the UK was 127,352 for the 12 months of the report; down 2,000 on 1987/88.
The backlog of licence applications, which take up to nine months to process in some areas, is blamed on the computerisation process and the TAOs expect the process to now run more smoothly in future. In some areas, the pass rate on HGV driving tests is "disturbingly low", says Frederick Whalley, LA for the North-East, where the rate was only 46%. Scotland was top, with a pass rate of 69% the report says.