Shock result at roadside check
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By Karen Miles • Avon and Somerset Police Force is reviewing its LGV enforcement policy after more than a third of the trucks stopped at a "staggering and depressing" road check were given immediate prohibitions.
Traffic officers in the cashstarved force are to push for more funds to re-introduce smaller, more frequent checks, and to step up LGV checks during routine patrols.
In the meantime the force hopes to continue its programme of four major multiagency LGV checks a year.
The review follows a check last week at the Sampford Peverell weighbridge off the M5 at Junction 27.
Forty immediate and eight delayed prohibitions were issued after Vehicle Inspectorate officers found missing brake cylinders, oil in brake drums and broken suspension springs among the 114 trucks stopped.
One vehicle carrying liquid gas had no fire fighting equip ment and 29 vehicles were over weight; one by 30%. One vehicle was prohibited for tachograph offences.
Inspector Terry Beale says the results represent a doubling of the prohibition and defect rate since a check in April.
"I am very depressed," he says. "I thought we had turned the corner in producing better results but it seems that our message has not got through. Let's face it, these vehicles could be killers." Benefits officers also found three drivers claiming benefits and are to investigate another 15.