Police 'seek faults'
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• Derbyshire police have dismissed claims by a transport lawyer that some police forces find fault with heavy haulage vehicles because they don't want to escort abnormal loads.
The allegations were made by Jonathan Lawton at a North Western Traffic Commission inquiry in defence of Heanor Haulage, a Langley Mill firm which carries more than 7,500 abnormal loads a year. In the past five years, the firm has been handed 20 immediate and 16 delayed prohibitions.
Lawton said that because police officers were sometimes reluctant, for political reasons, to escort abnormal loads, they occasionally went out of their way to find fault with a vehicle. Deputy Traffic Commissioner Patrick Mulvenna suspended six vehicles and 12 trailers for a fortnight from Heanor's licence, but Lawton stands by his allegations. "It is a widely-held perception in the industry that if police don't want to carry out escort duty, it is easy for them to find fault," he says. "I've had many cases of abnormal loads stopped for no good reason."
Derbyshire police have refuted his claims, however, saying. "We have a responsibility to escort abnormal loads and we take that responsibility very seriously. But we also have a responsibility to ensure road safety and if we find defects on a vehicle that jeopardise safety, we will take action."