Transport minister backs impounding
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by Amanda Bradbury • Impounding is back on the Government's agenda. Speaking at the Road Haulage Association's annual conference in Portugal on Monday (3 October), Steven Norris, the minister for local transport and road safety, said that confiscating trucks belonging to those who persistently flout the law was under discussion.
He said officials and ministers would only consult with the industry if they decide to go ahead with impounding, and when they have hammered out how to implement it.
Last year the then Transport Secretary John MacGregor ruled out impounding, which he condemned as a "draconian measure" (CM16-22 September 1993).
But Norris says impounding is "potentially an excellent idea." The increasing numbers of hauliers running without 0licences had convinced him to re-consider the issue, he told RHA delegates.
Norris cited two factors as influencing the move towards impounding: unfair competition from cowboy operators who can run their businesses more cheaply than legal hauliers; and the need to protect other road users. "Impounding may be the only way to penalise operators who are not prepared to bother with 0-licences," he said. "But it must be organised in a way in which impounding is not used for offences of a technical nature. It must be used only to hit persistent offenders hard."
RHA operations director Tim Inman Norris: Impounding welcomes the move, may be the only way. but warns that con fiscation should only be considered for hauliers who have committed three or four serious offences: "The LA can do nothing about someone who has not got an 0licence, because he has no jurisdiction," he says. The magistrates' guideline to fine non-O-licence holders £450 is not a big enough deterrent, he adds.
Dave Stride, who operates Southampton based DS Haulage, expressed the view of a number of delegates: "Impounding could stop the same people getting away with it (not having an 0-licence) indefinitely."