French safety blitz hits UK operators
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by Juliet Parish • British drivers in France are being targeted with increased roadside checks and fines as part of a blitz by authorities to improve road safety.
"In France there are too many accidents and so the transport minister has decided to increase checks," says traffic examiner Phillipe Teisseire.
The Road Haulage Association's international group chairman Paul Frampton says the French authorities are continuing to clamp down on drivers of
• Using belly tanks and normal running tanks has been the subject of much controversy this year at the European Commission. Under EC law an unlimited amount of fuel can be carried in the normal running tank on domestic EC journeys, but as yet no legal definition of such a tank exists.
UK hauliers have complained to the EC about fines from the French for using belly tanks. While the Commission has ruled using a belly tank is legal, the French have continued to fine operators. Consequently the trade associations are warning hauliers against using belly tanks. The issue is expected to be resolved by the end of the year when the Commission intends to include the definition of a normal running tank in a new Directive. trucks which have been retrofitted with belly tanks.
At the group's annual meeting last week members said drivers had been fined up to £2,100 on the spot.
Swindon-based MFP International and Rotherhambased JO Osborne were fined last month for having belly tanks of dery without hazardous goods documents. The French authorities have been telling operators the fuel is a hazardous load, even if it will be used on the trip.
Department of Transport officials have written to their French counterparts demanding an explanation for the reinterpretation of the law. "This is becoming a matter of concern as British operators are increasingly being penalised, in our view, unjustifiably," says the the DOT's dangerous goods branch.
Frampton says the French authorities are also holding thorough checks on whether the driver is carrying items like protective clothing and a hard hat: "It is evident that police activity is focused on foreign trucks."
One of his drivers, working for Somerset-based Frampton International, was pulled in three times on a trip from the Spanish border to Cherbourg. On each occasion police found nothing wrong.