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Turning up the heat With the introduction of the HGV

25th July 2013, Page 10
25th July 2013
Page 10
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Page 10, 25th July 2013 — Turning up the heat With the introduction of the HGV
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Road User Levy less than a year away, Vosa is scaling up its enforcement operations to ensure foreignregistered operators don't get an easy ride Words: Ashleigh Wight LOVE IT OR HATE it, Vosa's role in ensuring a level playing field for UK hauliers is vital. But with hundreds of operators using Britain's roads every day, including a significant number of foreign-registered vehicles from the Continent, it is impossible to check every single one for compliancy.

Vosa's enforcement sites are chosen to enable the agency to inspect as many vehicles as possible, which is why it recently revealed plans to open a new site in Ashford, Kent, expanding its capabilities in the area. Situated close to the M20 and with links to the port of Dover, the site is being developed to allow Vosa to bring in potentially noncompliant operators for spot checks. The team at Vosa's current Ashford site hope it will be open by spring 2014, in time for the introduction of the HGV Road User Levy in April.

The site will double capacity at Ashford, allowing Vosa to bring in up to 12 trucks at a time for tachograph analysis, mechanical inspections and driver questioning. It also hopes to include a pit to allow its officers to carry out the more complex mechanical inspections they cannot make at present. The new site will house more examiners and enable night operations.

Earlier this year, senior traffic commissioner Beverley Bell criticised the agency for not taking a tough enough approach to cracking down on serially non-compliant hauliers. But staff in Kent say they are working tirelessly to ensure the right operators are targeted and that those running potentially dangerous vehicles are taken off the road until faults are rectified.

On the agenda Levelling the playing field between British and foreign operators is a priority and when the HGV Road User Levy comes into effect, catching operators that fail to pay the fee will be high on its agenda.

Although the ideal place for Vosa to carry out spot checks on foreignregistered vehicles would be Dover, the agency is unable to do so because of the sheer volume of traffic moving through the port. Patrolling the M20 is the closest it can get to catching non-compliant European operators — 75% of all UK inbound traffic passes through Ashford.

Vosa MD Paul Coombs said:"Ashford is one of four new Vosa strategic sites located to target high-risk traffic. The new high throughput sites will be bigger with better targeting and inspection facilities, plus have the capability to operate 24/7."

When one of its patrol cars is not leading a driver into the site for a truck to be examined, a car is parked on the side of the motorway waiting for the next potentially non-compliant operator to cross its path.

Meanwhile, staff at Vosa's Ashford base watch live CCTV footage of the motorway for any sign of a noncompliant operator. Each vehicle that comes into view is photographed and each axle weighed, using scales set in the road surface, to determine whether the truck is overweight. The system instantly brings up the operator's OCRS, the vehicle's speed, when it was last examined and whether it is overweight.

Staff at Ashford told CM they often target particular operators based on the number of times they have been found to be overloaded, operating vehicles with mechanical defects or have had drivers driving over their legal hours, but this is not always the case. Sometimes a haulier Vosa does not often encounter, but is potentially overweight when it drives past the agency's camera, will also be pulled in for inspection.

Once a possible offender is found, Vosa has just minutes to bring the vehicle in for inspection. Motorwaybased examiners are quickly notified if a target is approaching and it is their responsibility to lead it into Vosa's premises for inspection.

Statutory rest Drivers are often taken to the nearby Ashford International Truckstop if they are prohibited from driving until they have taken their statutory weekly rest, with an immobiliser fitted to the truck's wheels.

During the enforcement operation CM observed, five European operators were found to have committed offences. One Lithuanian haulier was forced to remain parked for 45 hours because the driver had not taken a weekly rest; a Belgian-registered truck was found to be almost five tonnes overweight, and three operators had inoperative brakes, with one not recording anything on its tachograph.

On what is a vital route towards London and Dover, this particular operation is just one part of Vosa's network of more than 70 sites across the country that are trying to encourage UK and foreign operators to be more aware of their responsibilities as companies that run potentially dangerous vehicles.

In the pipeline In addition to the Ashford site, three more new enforcement sites are in the pipeline — at Winchester, Felixstowe and a site along the A75 in western Scotland.

"We want commercial operators and drivers to drive safely, and focus our efforts on those who flout compliance regulations so road users are not put at risk," says Coombs. "Where we find vehicles are unsafe or operated illegally, operators and drivers should know Vosa will take robust action." • • To discover Vosa's top 10 most common prohibitions, turn to page 24


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