§ Mr. Les Huckfieldasked the Secretary of State for Transport whether he will publish figures for the years 1975 to the latest date available showing the mumbers of heavy goods vehicles tested at his Department's testing stations, together with success and failure rates, giving details of the reasons for failure.
§ Mr. David HowellThe numbers of heavy goods vehicles tested in the financial years 1975–76 to 1980–81, including the success and failure rates were as follows:
§ Mr. David HowellI regret that the information is not available in the precise form requested by the hon. Member. In particular, it is comparatively rare for drivers of foreign goods vehicles to be prosecuted for non-arrestable offences, in view of the difficulty of ensuring their appearance in court. Instead we normally rely on prohibition of the movement of the offending vehicle until the defect has been remedied. This is an expensive and effective penalty.
The relevant figures for such prohibitions are:
Foreign goods vehicles checked Over-loading Other C&U Others 1975 10,550 1,182 139 41 1976 9,253 1,190 61 6 1977 9,482 1,039 86 74 1978 9,535 1,284 59 68 1979 8,716 1,269 37 139 1980 10,751 1,767 134 185 1981* 8,486 1,334 105 65 * To September. NoteStatistics for speeding offences are not centrally maintained.
I am constantly seeking to increase the effectiveness of the enforcement effort.