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148 
THE TRACTOR FACTOR
Page 5
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• The Road Haulage Association has been worried about farmers undermining and undercutting their market for many years. Red diesel is tax free and, until now, has only been legal in off-road machines such as construction plant and agricultural tractors.
By changing the rules in this year's Budget, the Government seems to have opened up a new loophole for unscrupulous farmers to go out on the open road using cheap red diesel and undercut "proper" HGV contractors.
This must be stopped, now. It is a dangerous development. Modern agricultural tractors may be big and strong, but they are not designed for full-scale regular heavy haulage work on the road. How stable are they? How stable are their trailers? Are the brakes strong enough? How are they maintained and serviced? The list of questions could go on and on.
Until the budget the maximum distance that an agricultural tractor could run on public roads with red diesel was 15 miles. There is no limit now, and no 0-licence is required. This is patently wrong. People's lives are at risk.
The North Western haulier who rang Commercial Motor this week was justifiably upset that overloaded trailers without lights are hauling spoil for the North West Water Authority. Under normal circumstances, such an operator would be reported for endangering other road users, convicted of overloading and be lucky to keep his 0licence. Because the operator concerned is a fanner, nothing can be done.
The RHA has many cases of farmers running around carrying out "haulage" work with agricultural tractors and trailers. It has reported cases to the Licensing Authorities, but it seems to be beyond their power to do anything about it. When someone gets seriously hurt something will perhaps happen. Until then, hauliers will lose business unfairly and go on wondering why we always have to wait until it is too late in this country.
If Roads and Traffic Minister Peter Bottomley means what he says, and genuinely cares about road safety, why is he not trying to stamp out this ludicrous anomaly? Could it be that the biggest and most powerful lobby group in Britain, the National Farmers Union, carries more clout than road users' lives?