Southend vehicle check nets nine drivers on the dole
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A 16-tonne rigid was found running on kerosene and nine truck drivers have been caught fraudulently claiming the dole in a multi-agency roadside check at Southend.
The drivers were forced by Department of Social Security officers to sign off the dole on the spot. They were among 60 drivers pulled over on the A127 near Southend on Tuesday 15 November.
Of the trucks stopped, two thirds were found to have defects and 10 were issued with prohibition notices. One of these was immediate—for a 7.5-tonner which was impounded after vehicle examiners found the rear brakes so badly worn that no pads were left.
Sergeant Dick Ager of Rayleigh traffic police says: "We were extremely pleased to get the vehicle with the defective brakes off the road. It was a disaster waiting to happen. It could so easily have ended in tragedy if the lorry driver had gone to apply the brakes and they had not responded."