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Operation Mermaid shows half of UK trucks are illegal
Page 8
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Police chief brands operators complacent and dangerous — and promises
to crack down on HGV offences. Jennifer Ball -eporrs.
THE ASSOCIATION OF Chief Police Officers (ACPO) is promising a crackdown on rogue operators after half the 1.800 commercial vehicles checked in the latest Operation Mermaid were found to be running illegally.
ACP° has accused truck operators of putting otherroad users' lives at risk by acting complacently towards vehicle maintenance and drivers' behaviour.
Of the vehicles stopped 17% were foreign-registered; 40% of these were running illegally — and 50% of the UK-registered trucks were breaking the law Of the 842 vehicles committing offences. 236 were taken off the road after receiving immediate prohibitions: a further 177 vehicles received delayed prohibitions.
There were 166 hours offences and 17 drivers were arrested on charges ranging from theft and running on red diesel to drink-driving and drugs.
Richard Brunstrom, the ACP° head of road policing and Chief Constable of North Wales, is well known for his zero-tolerance stance on speeding.
He says the figures are cause for serious concern: "It is clear that there is widespread disregard for fundamental traffic legislation within the goods and haulage vehicle industry, both domestic and international, which poses a real danger to other road users."
But the Freight Transport Association warns that using targeted enforcement to stop rogue operators distorts the figures. A spokesman says:"As such the ACP° claim that a 'large proportion of goods vehicle operators and drivers remain complacent' is misleading and inaccurate. On a mile-for-mile basis trucks are involved in about half as many accidents as cars."