Spring clean-up aims to clamp down on smokers
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• Hauliers running smoky trucks face fines of up to £5,000 in a two-month Government crackdown on harmful emissions. Transport Secretary Brian Mawhinney warns that roadside checkpoints would target "dirty" vehicles in 23 towns and cities over the next few weeks.
Hauliers will be given up to 14 days to rectify trucks found to be exceeding emission limits or face being fined at a magistrates court.
Mawhinney launched the checks after a pre-Christmas campaign found that 470 out of 5,200 vehicles stopped were breaking the emissions limits. The worst offenders were light goods vehicles and taxis, followed by private cars, prompting calls from the Road Haulage Association for further scrutiny of the maintenance of private motor vehicles.
Mawhinney plans to introduce tighter emission standards in the annual test in September 1995, instead of October 1996 as planned. And he has launched a six-month study into the feasibility of checking for engines burning too much oil. Ken Robinson, a director of Workington. Cumbria-based haulier Tyson H Burridge, says the campaign will "put a greater burden on an industry already in the doldrums. We already go through an emission check in the annual test and every week at least one of our 40 trucks is pulled over for a spot check." He adds that the Government would do better improving the road network.
Hauliers will have 14 days to clear a prohibition notice by putting the offending truck through a fresh annual test and taking the test certificate to a local police station. Police will then send the clearance to the VI which, if it does not receive clearance, will get in touch with the offending haulier.