'This arrangement can give rise to bizarre and unfair situations.'
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would appear to be the ambition of
both the Government and the Opposition to reduce the volume of goods moved by road and increase the carriage of goods by rail. Every inducement is being given to a minority of hauliers willing to become involved in intermodal transport—such as allowing vehicles to operate at a concessionary VED rate of 21,240 on 44 tonnes. Heavy hauliers operating at 46 tonnes are paying 25,000, moving loads that cannot be accommodated by rail. Heavy hauliers use vehicles not fully complying with Construction and Use but must adhere strictly to the Motor Vehicles (Authorisation of Special Types) General Order 1979, otherwise known as STGO.
Failure to comply with STGO is not an offence in itself, but offences may be brought as breaches of C&U, which of course could not be complied with because the vehicle and load are either too heavy, too wide or too long. This arrangement can give rise to bizarre and unfair situations. Consider the position of a heavy haulier contracted to move a large excavator from A to B. The customer advises the weight of the load from which the haulier calculates the overall weight to be 80 tonnes. Requisite notices are given to the police, highway and bridge authorities. Unfortunately the customer has got the weight of the excavator wrong, resulting in non-compliance with STGO. In such a situation some enforcement authorities find it fair game to prosecute the operator For overloading, which is an absolute offence. This means the court will pay no regard to the state of mind of the offender. The downside for failing to get it right can be horrendous. It is time we had a specific offence for failure to comply with STGO, with specific penalties that properly reflect the nature of the alleged offence. Another potentially more serious problem for heavy hauliers is caused by the current trend in environmental protectionism. The high-load routes running down the central corridor of England have been reduced to one. The reduction in routes caused a recent 40-mile road journey to end up as something of a fiasco when an uncompromising local authority [prevented the load going along a 8-road through a village. To accommodate the objectors the haulier took an alternative route resulting in a journey of 400 miles as opposed to 40 miles. Currently some police forces are taking it upon themselves to charge for escorting abnormal loads. In contrast North Wales Police are actively encouraging hauliers involved in moving caravans, portable buildings and boats to selfescort.The Heavy Transport Association would prefer the escorting of abnormal loads to remain with the police but in light of the economic climate and the drift toward privatisation of services it seems likely that private escorting will eventually be with us.
Rather than wait for a Government consultative document the HTA has produced a comprehensive manual on private escorting which we recently presented to a the Home Office at a highlevel meeting to discuss Government proposals. The manual was well received anc I suspect it may form the blueprint for private escorting in the UK. The implications of this development are considerable and there is still a long way to go before private escorting sees the light of day. The danger is that if, like the North Wales Police, other forces jump the gun or go their own way, the result will be complete chaos./ • If you want to sound off about a road transport issue write to features editor Patric Cunnane.