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Motoring news

Almost half of foreign lorries 'unsafe'

25/08/2009

Foreign-registered lorries are less safe than the domestic fleet, according to Government figures.

In 2007-8, roadside and dockside tests by the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) revealed that 46.5% of foreign heavy-goods vehicles were not compliant with British safety standards. For UK-registered vehicles, the proportion was 37.5%.

In addition, vehicles registered abroad were more likely to be overloaded, with almost a third (33.1%) found to be so, compared to 28.6% of the UK fleet. More drivers of foreign trucks (23.9%) than domestic trucks (15.8%) were found to have breached working hours regulations, or to have tampered with the tachograph that records them.

The figures are contained within a Transport Select Committee report on VOSA's enforcement activities, which concludes that the agency is generally effective at enforcing standards among haulage, bus and coach operators.

However, it concludes that international goods vehicles bring "unacceptable levels of non-compliance with basic road safety standards".

The report calls for further investment in VOSA and for better collaboration between the agency and third-parties such as port operators. It strongly supports work already underway to co-ordinate European enforcement agencies and build a European database of operators' safety records.

Commenting on the committee's findings, Jo Tanner of the Freight Transport Association said that road safety was the number-one priority, and that while UK operators were the "gold standard" of compliance, "operators coming across from the continent, particularly those from Eastern Europe, often fall well short".

She questioned how non-compliant vehicles were able to travel as far as the UK without detection, adding: "The Select Committee is absolutely right in encouraging greater collaboration and information-sharing between agencies, not only on this side of the Channel, but on the continent too."