• by Guy Sheppard UK reefer operators who claim they
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are being pressured to exceed weight limits on the Continent by unscrupulous freight forwarders and exporters can expect little protection from the law.
That is the central theme of a letter from the Department of Transport to Transfrigoroute, the trade association representing temperature-controlled haulage. Transfrigoroute recently highlighted a series of cases in which operators were being urged to accept backloads of up to 44 tonnes, even though it meant travelling through countries where this weight is illegal { CM22-28 March).
The trend is being linked to the introduction of 44-tonners on UK roads in February. Transfrigoroute vice-president Graham Eames says exporters now demand a 25-tonne payload. David Elvy from the DoT's road haulage division says in the letter: "Our legal advice is that it is the haulier and not the exporter who is most likely to be prosecuted and that because the offence takes place outside the country, UK prosecutions would be unlikely...whenever conflicts arise between financial reward and legal operation, the onus is on the haulier to ensure he complies with the law."
Liam 011iff, Transfrigoroute's company secretary, says this is yet another example of hauliers carrying the can for other people's wrongdoings. "It leaves hauliers who are quite rightly trying to build up their business in a very invidious and vulnerable position, he warns, adding that, apart from sending out a synopsis of the letter to member companies, there is nothing the association can do.