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6 blitz on foreigners
Page 8
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• A total of 24 foreign lorry drivers have been fined 25,500 following a police motorway blitz exposed a series of major vehicle defects and tachograph offences.
Police hauled in 82 foreign lorries on the M6 in Staffordshire, and Department of Transport and Customs inspec tors slapped immediate prohibitions on 32 of them. The worst offenders were taken before a special magistrates court and fined between 2200 and 2560.
One Italian was fined £774 for having four bald tyres, faulty steering, defective brakes on his trailer and committing drivers' hours offences. All the drivers carried on after paying their fines and repairing their vehicles, but several were delayed overnight in hotels.
The check lasted five hours, and more are scheduled for the summer. Staffordshire police have been holding three a year for the past five years, stopping only foreigners, says officer-in-charge Chief Inspector Bill Hunt. This time an "above average" number of drivers were charged.
"There are a lot of drivers' hours, and Construction & Use offences and foreign drivers are getting away with them," he says. Although these take place every day, major checks are a deterrent. "We can't afford to do them too often," he admits.