Police fault crackdown
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12y Gail Ashton • Two separate police crackdowns on dangerous vehicles have found an alarming number of vehicles being driven with serious defects.
In a five-day operation, police in West London carried out random roadside checks on 155 lorries and served 53 with prohibition notices because of dangerous faults.
One lorry was being driven with a puncture on an inner wheel which left the tyre hanging off the wheel rim.
Vehicle examiners were so concerned they refused to allow it to move until the tyre had been mended.
In a one-day lorry check in Surrey, 111 vehicles were pulled into the Heavy Goods Vehicle Testing Station in Croydon where 445 defects were found on them.
"Some of the defects we found were horrendous, especially problems with brakes and steering," says Inspector Derek Bradburn of West Croydon Police Traffic Unit, which ran the Surrey operation. Around 50 police and safety officials were involved in the Croydon checks, codenamed Operation Tnicksafe, including representatives from the Health and Safety Executive, Vehicle Examiners and Customs and Excise.
Thirty immediate prohibition notices were issued, 153 delayed prohibition notices and 76 defect notices.
Drivers served with immediate prohibition notices are forced to mend the defects straightaway; Delayed prohibition notices give ten days to sort out problems. In both cases all vehicles must pass fresh vehicle tests.
The five-day West London operation also involved police, vehicle and traffic examiners and Customs and Excise officers. A total of 32 immediate prohibition notices and 21 delayed notices were served.
Sergeant Clive Holliday of the Metropolitan Police HGV unit says the main problems are brake defects and general condition faults such as cracked windscreens and excessive smoke emissions.