Freight group argues in favour of foreign haulier database
Date: 14 April 2008
A freight group has taken issue with the Department for Transport (DfT) over a study that claims it would not be worth having a database of foreign freight vehicles to improve UK road safety.
The haulage industry had argued that such a system would make it easier for the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) to carry out roadside checks on foreign hauliers.
But a new study by the government suggests that a so-called 'vignette' scheme would not bring many benefits in terms of road safety and wear and tear of the nation's highways.
Simon Chapman, chief economist at the Freight Transport Association, disagrees.
"The Department and their consultants seem to have got their decimal places wrong and the report appears to undercook the benefits by several orders of magnitude," he said.
"Police and Highways Agency experience is that foreign vehicles running in an unroadworthy condition, and with drivers who are over their safe driving hours, regularly slip through VOSA's net and as a result are causing accidents on a daily basis on the UK's roads.
"The research work needs to be independently reviewed by a neutral third party. It seems strange that a vignette is seen as practical in Germany and Benelux, but can't be made to work in UK."
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