§ Mr. Peter Millsasked the Secretary of State for Transport (1) how many Continental lorry loads were overweight on arrival at Plymouth docks from Roscoff in the years 1978, 1979, 1980 and 1981;
(2) how many Continental lorry loads have been offloaded at Plymouth for being overweight on arrival from Roscoff in the years 1978, 1979, 1980 and 1981;
(3) how many Continental lorry owners were prosecuted for overweight loads at Plymouth during 1981.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeThe following are the numbers of foreign-registered goods vehicles which were found to be overweight within the dock area and were consequently prohibited from proceeding until the excess weight had been off-loaded or re-distributed to conform with our axle loading regulations:
Year Prohibited 1978 132 1979 105 1980 189 1981 220 There were no prosecutions at Plymouth of foreign goods vehicles for overloading offences during this period.
Prohibition of the movement of the offending vehicle until the overloading has been remedied imposes a substantial cost on the operator which has a deterrent effect. Offences involving foreign lorries in Great Britain are regularly reported to the Governments concerned for action under national laws.