Guidelines on impounding
Page 9
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
by Miles Brignall • Trucks without Operator's Licence discs will not necessarily be confiscated under new impounding regulations, admitted roads minister Steven Norris this week. Vehicles will probably only be taken off the road if they get an immediate prohibition in addition to having no disc.
Speaking at the recent meeting of the Transport Select Committee, Norris suggested that only those vehicles that were subject to both criteria will be impounded because many trucks on the roads that are not displaying a valid 0-licence are actually running legally (see page 6). He quoted the Curtis report, which suggests that as many as 24% of vehicles on the roads that are not displaying a disc are on the margin of licences or belong to leasing or hire firms. Norris said the financial implications of impounding vehicles that subsequently were found to be acting within the law, andwhose operators sought compensation, would be enormous.
Impounding prohibited vehicles would give Vehicle Inspectorate a safety margin, he added.
A spokesman for the Freight Transport Association says: "The FTA believes that a modern data base should be created with hauliers simply able to ring up and add vehicles to their authorisation. This would do away with the problem—a vehicle would either be licensed or not."