§ Mr. Boothasked the Secretary of State for Transport (1) whether he will order the establishment of sites on the motorway system as well as on other trunk roads where lorries and their drivers can be checked safely for overloading, and other offences, as recommended by the Association of Chief Police Officers to the Armitage inquiry; and whether, as a matter of urgency, he will order the provision of such sites on all motorways now being built or planned;
(2) how many modern electronic weighbridges are now in use for the policing of lorry overloading in Great Britain and in other European Economic Community member States.
§ Mr. FowlerMy Department has 25 dynamic axle weighers in operation throughout the country, including those installed at virtually all major roll-on/roll-off ferry ports. A further five will be brought into operation next month and five more before the end of the year. An ability to deal with motorway traffic is an important criterion in deciding the siting of these weighbridges. However it is usually more cost-effective to site them outside the motorway boundaries, so that they can deal with both motorway and non-motorway traffic. Discussions about such siting now take place at the motorway planning stage.
I am afraid I have no information about weighbridges in other countries.