...as VI denies targeting
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• Hauliers who attended the M25 fuel duty demo have raised fears that Trans-Action members and other activists are being targeted by the Vehicle Inspectorate through spot Checks at their premises.
This claim is denied by the Vehicle Inspectorate.
One haulier, who wishes to remain anonymous, believes the visits of officials to the yards of Frank Stears, Brenda Taylor, Derek Lynch and Geoff Hart led to the organisation behind the M25 demo being handled by a new group called British Road Hauliers Unite.
"I think the Trans-Action lads wanted the heat off them a he says.
Stears confirms that the four Trans-Action organisers have all been the target of checks recently but he is less convinced of a deliberate policy. "The question is, would they have come anyway without the protests?" he asks. "It is hard to know."
And while Steers is pleased that the BRHU's role might have taken the attention away from Trans-Action last week, he stresses that the checks will not put him off. They did not find anything," he says, "so why should we be worried?"
A Welsh haulier who was also present at last week's demo says: "I know that hauliers present at protests have been recipients of spot checks afterwards."
However, a spokeswoman for the VI says direct targeting is not how the agency works.
"Visits to hauliers present at protests would be coincidental," she says. "We just do not have the resources or the time to carry out checks in this manner. I am amazed that hauliers think we are doing this."