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Weight of abnormal loads falls to hauliers
Page 10
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• by Buy Sheppard Hauliers are expected to take over responsibility for escorting the vast majority of abnormal loads by the end of the year, fallowing a radical change in policy by the police.
Warwickshire Police is withdrawing the service from 1 June and predicts other forces will quickly follow its lead.
Chief Superintendent Jon Bond, head of road traffic in the county, says: "It is a huge cost in terms of police resources for a function that does not require police powers."
Demands to scrap police escorts date back more than a decade, and are supported by many operators because of the time wasted at each force boundary waiting for a replacement escort.
But John Dyne, secretary of the Heavy Transport Association, warns of months of muddle ahead because the change is not being properly coordinated. "I think it is probably for the better but there is a lot of uncertainty."
Warwickshire's change in pokey has been triggered by the Police Reform Act earlier this year, which allows many police powers to be taken over by accredited civilians.
But Bond says the government has failed to come up with a clear strategy for escorts. They were presented with a report in 1998 and here we are still discussing the issue. If we continue to wait for the Home Office, it's likely to be another five years." He adds that his force will still provide escorts, provided operators pay a minimum fee of £260.
Nottinghamshire Police relaxed the criteria for escorting at the beginning of this month but has not co.uk gone as far as Warwickshire.
A spokeswoman for the Home Office says it is working with the Highways Agency to come up with a systematic approach to escorting abnormal loads.
Jim Macauley, director of Cadzow Heavy Haulage in Scotland, says a journey from Motherwell to Southampton now takes around five days, partly because of police escort delays.
But he warns that removing police responsibility will increase reliance on private escort companies in areas where operators are unfamiliar with the road network themselves.
Although HTA members face a delay in modifications to the general regulations governing their sector (CM 10-16 April), Dyne says police escorts are not being affected by them.
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