Spanish Truck Hazard on our roads

Friday, November 12 2010

Over 50% of Spanish Trucks in the UK break road safety rules say VOSA.

Figures released by The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency have shown that thousands of foreign registered trucks are driving illegally on our roads. The figutres show that in the case of Spain alone 551 out of 1,089 vehicles checked were prohibited for overloading.

West Midlands MEP Mike Nattrass, UKIP transport spokesman, said: "More than half the trucks from some European countries on our roads are in a non-roadworthy condition.

"Not only do they take advantage of cheaper fuel at the border, and damage Britain's road haulage industry, but many of them are dangerous.

"UKIP would introduce a Swiss style Heavy Vehicle Fee / ‘vignette’, called a ‘Britdisc’, to be available on a journey, daily, weekly, monthly or annual basis, to be paid by all Non-UK registered freight vehicles over 3.5 tonnes for use of UK roads.

To get such a disk a truck would have to complete vigorous safety checks," he added

The report said,

The highest prohibition rates were found for Romanian motor vehicles (43.5%) and Spanish trailers (52.4%), although the Romanian prohibition rate was based on a relatively small number of checks. Prohibition rates for Italian trailers were also high, at 51.8%. At fleet and spot checks combined, brake systems and components remains the most common defect for both motor vehicles and trailers.

Links

VOSA Report
The full VOSA report can be downloaded here.

UKIP Transport Policy
UKIP Transport Policy report can be downloaded here.

Have your say
Comment on this article