Drivers' Hours: Enforcement (Hansard, 7 November 1995)

§ Viscount Goschen
My Lords, the Government take drivers' hours enforcement extremely seriously. We already exceed the EEC tachograph requirements. In July 1993 the Vehicle Inspectorate's traffic examiner effort on drivers' hours enforcement was increased. In addition, funding for the inspectorate's investigative work was increased this year by £350,000. A significant proportion of that additional funding will be spent on drivers' hours enforcement.

§ Lord Clinton-Davis
My Lords, I thank the Minister for that reply. Does he agree with the conclusion reached by Loughborough University recently, that driver fatigue accounts for at least 20 per cent. of accidents involving heavy goods vehicles and coaches on British roads? Does he agree also that the European 1629 regulations on which our regulations are based were adopted against the advice of the European Commission and in accord with the unanimous view of the member states? They were rejected because the Commission considered them to be too lax and difficult to enforce. Those rules are now being flouted across the whole of the European Union and need to be made much more vigorous as I, as Commissioner, suggested back in 1987.

§ Viscount Goschen
My Lords, I agree with the noble Lord that fatigue is an important factor in road accidents. It is extremely difficult to quantify and I therefore do not take issue with his figures. I dare say that considerable research went into producing them. We must concentrate on the enforcement of the rules. They provide good standards. We must put all our efforts into making sure that those standards are upheld. That is why, as I said in my original Answer, Her Majesty's Government put considerable resources into the Vehicle Inspectorate to ensure that the rules are complied with.

§ Lord Mowbray and Stourton
My Lords, can my noble friend tell me how often the police and the Ministry of Transport inspectors examine the tachographs? Is it the case that tachographs are not being inspected sufficiently or that they are frequently altered? I should like to know the answer to that.

§ Viscount Goschen
My Lords, the answer is that we put considerable effort into checking tachographs. The suggested level across the Community is to inspect 1 per cent. We inspect somewhere in the region of 1.5 per cent., which equates to about 1.7 million checks. The tachograph is extremely important, but my noble friend is quite right to identify the fact that we are battling against the issue of tampering. Some road operators and drivers have been known to tamper with their equipment. That is why we are taking forward research on producing better types of tachograph.

§ Lord Molloy
My Lords, would it not be worth while for representatives of the road haulage industry and representatives of the police, who know this subject inside out and know how conditions vary in different parts of the country, to get together to try to resolve this problem? That would be a very good job done for the country.

§ Viscount Goschen
My Lords, I take the important point made by the noble Lord. I do not think it would be appropriate to leave out the role of the Vehicle Inspectorate, which is the primary body involved with the police in checking tachographs. Most operators take this issue and their responsibilities extremely seriously, but there is a body of road operators and drivers who do not.

§ Lord Teviot
My Lords, does my noble friend have any figures for fatal accidents involving road haulage and PSV drivers? I should be grateful to have any such figures.

§ Viscount Goschen
My Lords, I regret that I did not hear the last part of my noble friend's question.

§ Lord Teviot
My Lords, I was perhaps not as articulate as I should have been. Does my noble friend 1630 have any figures for drivers who, having exceeded their permitted hours, have been involved in serious or fatal accidents?

§ Viscount Goschen
My Lords, in 1994–95 there were 2,835 drivers' hours prosecutions. I hope that that figure is of some use to my noble friend. I can also tell him that the number of HGV accidents is falling. However, this is still a serious problem and my noble friend is right to identify the issue of driver fatigue.

§ Lord Monkswell
My Lords, is the Minister aware that some areas of commercial driving do not appear to be covered by restrictions on the number of hours at the wheel? In particular, is he aware that the get-you-home services provided by organisations such as the AA and RAC are not covered by drivers' hours regulations? Will the Minister undertake to investigate that and ensure that some action is taken in that area?

§ Viscount Goschen
My Lords, the noble Lord is correct to say that the drivers of recovery vehicles are outside the scope of the European rules on drivers' hours. However, they are subject to separate UK rules which specify a 10-hour daily driving limit and an 11-hour duty limit. I can tell the noble Lord that those rules are enforced through log books.

§ Lord Clinton-Davis
My Lords, is it not abundantly plain from the Minister's own answers that there have been grave difficulties in enforcing these rules, and that this is consistent with the view I expressed a long time ago that they were not capable of proper enforcement? Is there not a case therefore for urging the Commission to look carefully at these regulations? Finally, where road hauliers have been guilty of serious breaches of these regulations, will the Minister consider the confiscation of their lorries?

§ Viscount Goschen
My Lords, I can tell the noble Lord that serious action is taken against operators and not just drivers. The Vehicle Inspectorate works closely with the police to develop intelligence on where operators are clearly acting well outside the law on this subject. The rules are stringent. The noble Lord is quite right to say that the difficulty comes with enforcement. With the advent of the newer technology involved in the tachographs, we can see significant benefits for enforcement. From January 1996 new vehicles must be fitted with a tachograph which automatically records on the chart any interruption to the power supply. That makes it much more difficult to tamper with it. The Europeans have taken forward considerable research which we have supported in identifying so-called smart card systems which, again, provide further protection against tampering.