Heavy Goods Vehicles (Hansard, 7 June 1993)

§ Mr. Barnes
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what research his Department has commissioned into the impact of increases in the maximum tonnage for heavy goods vehicles; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mr. Key
The road wear implications of heavier gross vehicle weights have been known for some time and were reported on in 1980 by the then Transport and Road Research Laboratory. The Department recently commissioned further research from the laboratory to examine the likely impact of the changes in weight limits due to take place in 1999 under EC regulations. The first report from this study was published on 4 June 1993.

§ Mr. Cox
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what has been the number of roadside checks on heavy goods vehicles in the Greater London area in the period January to April.

§ Mr. Norris
In the period 1 January to 31 March 1993—the latest financial year quarter for which figures are available—the Vehicle Inspectorate conducted checks on 5,079 heavy goods vehicles in Greater London. Of these, 1,237 were conducted for the purpose of enforcing roadworthiness, while 3,842 were for the purpose of traffic enforcement—which included operators' licence checks, driving licence checks, drivers' hours checks and vehicle weight checks.