VI set to monitor police checks from next April
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• The Vehicle Inspectorate (VI) is to monitor police support for roadside vehicle checks from next April.
The force-by-force statistical analysis is intended to back up efforts to increase the number of checks. The VI estimates 300 hours a month are being lost because the police are unwilling to provide staff. By law, only a uniformed police officer is allowed to pull over traffic.
The monitoring, which starts on 1 April, comes after some forces have been forced by cash restraints to cut the support given to the VI.
Julian David, the VI's deputy chief executive, says: "We want to get a handle on the scale of the problem nationally and once we get that sorted out we can start to look at solutions."
Unless VI traffic examiners are given the power to stop vehicles—which seems unlikely—increased funding to pay for police attendance at checks seems the only answer to the problem. Either the Government could provide more cash or the VI could pay for police time through money gathered directly from fines.
The monitoring will focus on the number of VI checks cancelled or stopped early because of the withdrawal of police.