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UK trucks abroad have a flawed safety record
Page 6
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THE FREIGHT Transport Association (FTA) has called on British hauliers to maintain the same roadworthiness standards abroad as at home, after a European Commission report indicated they have a flawed safety record in other European Union countries.
Figures dating back to 2004 show the proportion of trucks from each country inspected in Sweden, Hungary and Britain that were below mechanical standards set by EU Directive 2000/30/EC In Sweden, 31 of the 57 British trucks checked in 2003-7 broke these standards. At 54.4% this is a higher proportion than trucks from Denmark and Germany, which often use Swedish roads. Irish trucks fared worse— 11 out of 12 vehicles were below par. FTA chief executive Richard Turner says: 'It's unacceptable that any operator should not adopt when he's abroad the standards that UK operators have domestically —which are the best in Europe."
He is calling for increased roadside checks on the Continent so "there is no place to hide''.
The report also suggested that
some countries have very low levels of roadside checks; Greece made only 306 in 2003.
Germany made the most roadside checks of CVs, stopping 1.8 million in 2003-4 (of which 78,873 were PCVs), compared with 221,874 in the UK (34,255 were PCVs). Of the EU states in the report, only Germany and Hungary made more checks than Britain.