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A prohibition order can keep a dangerous HGV off the roadbut a cowboy haulier could still use the vehicle. Impounding would make such an activity impossible. A Conservative MP recently scuppered plans to introduce impounding, but the issue is set to return to parliament in
November. visited BP's truckstop at South Mimms, just off the M25. He found support for the proposals, but with reservations. The Vehicle Inspectorate has the power to impose a prohibition order on an HGV deemed unroadworthy. A haulier must then rectify the problem immediately, or arrange for the vehicle to be recovered—but it cannot be driven. After the repairs are completed, the HGV must be taken to a Vehicle Inspectorate test centre. If everything is in order, the truck can return to the road; but if it fails the test, the prohibition order remains in force until the work is completed. It sounds a sohd weapon against the industry's cowboys: prohibition notice served, HGV off the road.
But it is not that straightforward. As the vehicle could be kept in a haulier's yard, there is nothing to prevent an unscrupulous operator putting his HGV back on the road, away from the gaze of the Vehicle Inspectorate. He could be running a death trap.
Last month Conservative MP Eric Forth vetoed Lord Attlee's private member's Bill on impounding which, if it became law, would give the Vehicle Inspectorate the power to lock dangerous trucks (CM, 29 July-4 August) in a secure pound. This would put death traps under the jurisdiction of the Vehicle Inspectorate and make it impossible for a cowboy to use the vehicle. Undeterred, Lord Attlee says he plans to introduce a similar private member's Bill for impounding in the next parliamentary session, which begins in November.
The Vehicle Inspectorate wants the power to impound. Spokesman Paul Mugenyi says: "It would give us an extra edge. This is something that we have been wanting for some time." Mugenyi explains that impounding would not be applied to all vehicles that were not fit to be on the road. There would still be prohibition, with impounding "targeted at the rogues in the industry".
What do those on the road think of impounding? CM spoke to six HGV drivers parked at South Mimms to find out.