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• Police trawled the motorway around Watford last week and pulled in 61 foreign lorries. Thirteen drivers were issued with prohibition notices and fined a total of £3,215 at Watford magistrates court for defective tyres, overweight axles and excessive hours.
In its fourth major jointoperation since May, Hertfordshire police enlisted the help of Department of Transport traffic and vehicle examiners; Customs and Excise officers with sniffer dogs to search for illegal goods and fuel; trading standards officers to check for vehicle-use offences; Board of Trade officials, and several interpreters.
"The M1/M25 is a funnel for foreign vehicles travelling north," said Inspector Stacey, who planned the operation. "Since we started these operations we have stopped over 200 lorries, taken 40 drivers to court and imposed fines totalling more than £13,000. On average, a quarter of those stopped have offences."
Among the worst cases this time was a French DAF 3300 Turbo Interco°ler with two badly damaged tyres, a concealed offensive weapon and an illegal CB radio. Fourteen French trucks were pulled in by police motorcyclists. "In our experience the French are some of the worst offenders," said Stacey.
A Dutch Daf 2100 was found to be 430inm over length — the driver knew the law but hoped to slip through the net. A DTp official commented: "The Dutch have a pretty laissez faire attitude to haulage. They come over here and take the chance."
The man in charge of the check on the day, Inspector Jim Henderson, was pleased with the results. As trucks poured in from as far afield as Turkey and Romania, he said: "It's been a successful operation. We're hoping that some drivers who know they have defective vehicles will come in voluntarily when they realise we are on the prowL" ID Transport lawyer Jonathan Lawton, who has just joined the French Chamber of Commerce in London, says French and Continental drivers are treated differently here from their British counterparts. "If you were an English driver on the Continent this would not happen to you. Drivers have enough time before they get a summons to arrange proper legal representation," he says. "The argument here is that if they let a driver go they won't trace him again, but there is an established system in the European Community to delivery summonses. Besides many of these drivers work for reputable French firms."