§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the locations of the five weighbridges in the west midlands; and how many days each has (a) been used and (b) not been available for use since 30 June 1986.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyThe five weighbridges provided in the west midland traffic area are located at A449 Warndon, M5 Quinton, A45 Dunchurch, A5 Wall and M6 Doxey. West midland traffic examiners have carried out 121 vehicle weight checks at these weighbridge sites since July 1986. A further 26 weigh checks have been held using other public or private weighbridges. All of the Department's weighbridges were in operation except for the A5 Wall site, which was out of operation for a total of 16 days in September and November, and the A45 Dunchurch site, which has been out of operation since mid-November and where remedial work is in hand.
Local authority trading standards staff and the police also use the Department's weighbridge sites but figures for how often the west midland sites have been used by these other enforcement agencies are not available.