HC Deb 03 May 1978 vol 949 cc233-4
24. Mr. Kenneth Lewis

asked the Secretary of State for Transport whether he is satisfied with the mechanical reliability and safety of heavy vehicles from Europe travelling on British roads; and whether checks for reliability of these vehicles are adequate.

Mr. Horam

Checks of foreign vehicles using British roads indicate that they are generally in a satisfactory mechanical condition. We are satisfied that within the manpower resources available the scope and frequency of checks are adequate.

Mr. Lewis

Is the Minister aware that there is a general belief based on a certain amount of experience that many of the heavy vehicles coming in are overloaded? How can we deal with this problem in terms of taking action against their drivers and imposing fines? Does the Minister know about what happened in Northamptonshire recently, when several of them were stopped? May we have some quick method of getting them to the courts and getting action?

Mr. Horam

I know about what happened in Northamptonshire recently. It was a very useful exercise. Unfortunately, none of the lorries stopped for being overloaded or for any other fault was foreign, apart from one, which was from Eire, and none was from the Continent. Therefore, that example does not exactly back up the hon. Member's point. However, the answer to the hon. Member's first point about what we do to prevent overloaded foreign lorries from going about their business is that we have a system of stopping them for spot checks at ports, and this works pretty well on the whole.

Mr. John Ellis

Will my hon. Friend take on board the point that there is a problem here, in that lorry drivers and lorry owners picking up containers at ports have no way of knowing the weight of the containers? In these circumstances, would it not be more sensible to go to the docks and to check the weight of the containers? If a member of my union saw a notice saying "This container is overweight", he would not move it. To be prosecuted and to lose one's licence—with the same consideration applying to the owner of the vehicle—when there is no way of knowing the weight of what is in the container is manifestly unfair.

Mr. Horam

As my hon. Friend knows from the debate on the Transport Bill, this does not happen. There is no loss of licence if it is shown that a driver did not know what was in the container that he picked up. Rightly, the law protects the lorry driver in those circumstances. However, I take my hon. Friend's point, and that of the hon. Member for Rutland and Stamford (Mr. Lewis), that we need to take a careful look at our checking facilities in ports.