RHA Recovery Group says "Give us a break Mr Livingstone"
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Foreign Lorries - "Tell us who you are", says UK Transport Industry
The Freight Transport Association and the Road Haulage Association are calling on the Government to introduce a system of collecting information from visiting lorry operators and drivers which would protect the integrity of UK road safety and which, in future, could be subsumed 'into a formal European database exchange'. A formal submission has been made to the Road Haulage Task Group.
FTA and RHA say that with one in seven of the heaviest lorries on UK roads now coming from overseas, it is no longer acceptable that UK enforcement authorities do not have direct access to information on the compliance record of the vehicle and driver in the same way as such information is available regarding UK vehicles.
FTA Chief Executive Richard Turner says, "Over 45 per cent of everything we spend on transport is spent on moving goods around. Such freight movements will inevitably increase in the future as the economy grows. As such, we need to provide an improved transport infrastructure, both road and rail, fit for the purpose of delivering this economic growth.
"But we must also recognise that much of this movement will continue to be carried out by foreign lorry operators and drivers - at present we know almost nothing about these vehicles, despite the fact that they seem more likely to be overloaded, more likely to be involved in accidents, more likely to be unsafe and more likely to have exceeded driving limits."
RHA Chief Executive Roger King says, "Eventually there must come a time when the comprehensive information on UK vehicles and drivers available to the enforcement authorities is also available regarding vehicles from other European states. But, until that moment arrives, FTA and RHA are calling for a simple system of pre-registration for lorries entering the UK, providing basic details of the vehicle's ownership, registered place of business, date of the last annual test and roadworthiness inspection, the origin and destination of the load and the time and date of arriving and leaving the UK.
"If we are to continue to see a growth in the operation of foreign lorries in the UK, and at present it seems as if we will, then at least let us have rather more confidence that they are being operated safe and sound than is the case at present."
Last year FTA and RHA jointly sponsored the Burns Report, which looked at the problems created by the hugely differing rates of duty on diesel in the UK and the rest of Europe. UK diesel duty is 47p per litre against an average of just 22p per litre for the rest of Europe. The Burns Report concluded that the ability of foreign lorries to operate more cheaply in the UK than the domestic industry, and without any payments for using UK roads, constituted a major problem for the UK transport sector. The Government responded by appointing the Road Haulage Task Group to examine the problem and which is due to report this summer.
For further information and copies of campaign material call:
Kate Gibbs
RHA Communications Manager
01932 838917
(mob) 07979 531451
Geoff Dossetter
FTA External Affairs Director
01892 552255
(mob) 07818 450500
