Impounding delayed till autumn
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• The impounding of trucks caught running without ()licences will be delayed until the autumn or beyond due to technicalities over the wording of the legislation.
The Vehicle Inspectorate was ready to start seizing unlicensed trucks from July. Letters due to be sent to every haulier in the country spelling out what the introduction of impounding will mean are piled up waiting for the go-ahead.
A spokesman for the Department of Transport says last-minute amendments to the Transport Bill are to be put before Parliament over the next few months, and only once they are in place can impounding start.
He declined to give any details of the technical problems, which are believed to involve the appeals procedure. "We will not start impounding until the legislation is watertight," he adds. "Only when it is all in place will the go-ahead be given." Realistically, September is the earliest that impounding could start, and a further wait cannot be ruled out While legitimate hauliers will not welcome this delay, it will buy more time tor the Traffic Area Network computer system to gear up for impounding.
It was thought that the delays in implementing TAN were holding up the introduction of impounding. However the VI has confirmed that it will start to impound illegal trucks even if the TAN system is not ready in time—although it adds that TAN is vital to the long-term success of the impounding project.