Foreigners alarm
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FOREIGN LORRIES, especially fr Licensing Authorities, according which were published last week.
North-western LA Roy Hutchings told Transport Secretary Norman Fowler that prohibitions on vehicles stopped at Holyhead have increased from 47 per cent to 53 per cent, and that the number of vehicles inspected rose from 307 to 518.
"I think that this represents about five per cent of the total traffic, and I have no reason to believe that the condition of the• 95 per cent which were not inspected is any better than those which were," he added.
And Mr Hutchings' findings are backed up by the other LAs whose territories cover Irish ferry routes, Ronald Jackson in South Wales, and Hugh McNamara in Scotland.
Mr Jackson said that, of the 462 vehicles checked at Fishguard, 198 were from the Irish Republic, and 15 were pro
em Ireland, continue to alarm the to their annual reports for 1979/80, hibited; at Pembroke Dock, 38 out of 76 were Irish and eight were prohibited; and inland, 400 of the 539 vehicles checked were Irish, of which 185 Irish were prohibited.
Only in the inland checks were other countries' vehicles prohibited, five being West German, 13 French, two Belgian, one from Luxembourg, three Dutch, four Austrian, one Swiss, four Italian, 12 Spanish, one Finnish, two Portuguese (the only ones stopped), and two (out of 27 checked) British.
Mr McNamara reported an increase in prohibitions from 244 in 1978/79 to 367, of which 221. were registed in Ulster.
In Scotland, the number of foreign lorries prohibited rose from 72 to 110. Most came from the Irish Republic and they, together with two Dutch vehicles, were overloaded.
Eastern LA Ken Peter reported a mammoth increase in prohibitions on British lorries passing through Felixstowe and Parkeston Quay (Harwich).
Following a 13 per cent increase in checks on incoming lorries, 39 per cent were found to be overloaded. The number of overloaded British vehicles prohibited more than doubled to reach 203 whereas the total of foreign lorries prohibited climbed only slightly to 169.
In the South-eastern area, LA Randall Thornton reported an increase in checks on foreign vehicles at the eig.ht Channel ports for the first time since 1974/75, although the total checked is still lower, at 5,717 against 7,029. The percentage prohited — 14.6 —'was the highest ever.
The number of British vehicles checked — 4,828 — was the highest ever, and the percentage prohibited — 8.95 — was the highest since 1975/76's 10.43 per cent record.
Several of the LAs report difficulties caused by a shortage of enforcement staff, and Mr Hutchings' warning in connection with the Irish hauliers' problems indicates the practical difficulties being caused. He said: "I shall try to maintain the enforcement effort at the ports in the coming year, but since my complement of traffic examiners is to be reduced by two, this will only be possible at the expense of other activities."