Island tacho hints
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/ERNMENT Ministers have given strong hints that operators on II islands should not install tachographs in their vehicles while British Government is trying to have EEC legislation changed, LUCAS reports.
is was revealed last week by artment of Transport head of freight, Reg Dawson, when ddressed 40 operators from arts of the Western Isles at a ting in Stornoway to discuss )ffects of EEC Regulations.
r Dawson said that the opean Commission was rering the legislation at pre, and the United Kingdom pressing very hard for an nption for vehicles which ir leave the Scottish islands. this has not yet been wed, so technically and )retically tachographs IId be fitted.
ien asked whether the DTp advising operators not to fit )graphs by the December 3adline, Mr Dawson replied: ; difficult to advise people o observe the law, even if it illy law, but Ministers in our irtment have given pretty strong hints to MPs who have raised this issue with them, that vehicles on very small islands should not be fitted while we are trying to get the law changed."
Chief Inspector Donald Morrison of Stornoway told the meeting he would not put men on the street to find out if a tachograph had been fitted, until a directive was issued by Lord Advocate Lord Mackay or the Procurator Fiscal, stating what action to take.
Misunderstanding
Mr Dawson said the DTp had only a very small enforcement team in Scotland — about 25 — arid they would take the same view as the police.
He added that there is a good deal of misunderstanding on whether vehicles would fail their annual test if they did not have a tachograph fitted. He said that from next year the tachograph would be one of the items for test stations to look at, but there was no question of vehicles failing just because they were not equipped.
Mr Dawson pointed out that the DTp had no control over • tachograph centres' charges, but one operator said that the only approved centre in Stornoway was charging over £500 to fit an automatic tachograph, when the same job could be done in Inverness for £260.
Mr Dawson said it was hoped that discussion in Brussels would start before the end of the year, and the British Government would try to get more flexible legislation, and would press in particular for exemption for vehicles which never left the small Scottish islands.
He said there must be some sort of definition of the maximum size of island, and suggested that this would be done either on an acreage or on the number of vehicles.
Mr Dawson added: "The British civil service moves slowly, but we are like Concorde compared to the Viscount which brought me up here today or to the civil service in Brussels where there are ten different countries with ten different points of view.
"I think it will be at least two years from now before the necessary amendments can be made to the legislation. A senior EEC spokesman has stated that they are not interested in vehicles which do not leave the islands, but we cannot get that in writing," he said.