Proposed driver fines too low, industry says
Date: 10 September 2007
For more of the latest haulage and transport news, please visit the Haulage Exchange Haulage News page – all the latest for owner operators and haulage companies.
Many figures in the freight haulage industry believe that the levels of fines for vehicle offences that the Graduated Fixed Penalty and Deposit Scheme is proposing are too low.
The Freight Transport Association (FTA) told Motor Transport that the fines of up to £200 that would be imposed on logistics drivers "are insufficient to deter this type of offence".
Penalties of between £30 and £200 are being proposed for offences such as overloading, drivers' hours, driver licensing, vehicle excise duty and roadworthiness. Examiners will have the power to immobilise the vehicles of foreign drivers if they do not pay a deposit (aimed at ensuring they don't escape punishment in the UK).
A spokesman for the Road Haulage Association agreed that the fines are "a bit low at the top end".
Earlier this year it emerged that the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) would continue to check haulage vehicles in the south-east of England as part of its normal targeted enforcement work, after it exposed a number of contraventions by foreign freight haulage drivers.
VOSA is also concerned that the proposed fines are too low.
Haulage Exchange's Transport News-feed provides the very latest news for the transport industry, owner operators and haulage companies. For the latest haulage and transport news, please visit the Haulage Exchange news page.
User Comments
No Comments