TV fiasco
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• I was watching the BBC's Look East programme a few weeks ago when the subject of HGVs came up.
The Department of Transport and the local police force had decided to upstage their checks on HGVs passing through the county.
The road in question was the Al and the location was the new weighbridge at Sawtry, which lies between Peterborough and Huntingdon. The weighbridge is on the side of the southbound carriageway.
The BBC had set up cameras and were watching all the activities, from the police motorcyclist escorting a wagon into the park through to the weighing of vehicles and the checking of tachograph charts.
Then they decided to interview a few of the drivers concerned, and to be honest they could not have picked on a worse bunch — a real disgrace and embarrassment to anyone concerned with the industry. One rigid truck carrying pet food was three tonnes overweight and the driver didn't give a damn. The driver should be dealt with severely because under certain conditions he could easily have lost control and caused an accident.
Another incident involved a bulkhead on a semi-trailer that was breaking away from the body simply because of neglect. A driver's attitude should not be "Oh dear, what a shame, I didn't know anything about it". He is responsible whether he likes it or not.
I feel really sorry for the operators and drivers who take pride in their vehicles and their operations only to have their reputations tarnished because of the stupidity of a minority.
The general public detests lorries enough without publicity like that. The programme could have led to a few steps forward in the way people view lorries — instead those steps definitely went backwards.
Robert Watson,
Yaxley.
Peterborough.