§ Mr. AlisonTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the monitoring and preventive measures carried out directly or indirectly by his Department, or other agencies, giving their locations and frequency for the routine safety testing of commercial and heavy goods vehicles.
§ Mr. NorrisThe Vehicle Inspectorate conducts checks on the adequacy of commercial and heavy goods vehicle operators' maintenance arrangements every five years prior to the renewal of licences. Other ad-hoc checks on maintenance are made when the operator seeks a variation to his licence or when a vehicle is prohibited following a roadside spot check and there is evidence of a significant
Year All reported HGV Accidents HGVs examined by Vehicle Inspectorate after accidents HGVs examined with defects considered likely to have contributed to the accident1 Percentage of HGVs with likely contributory defects1 1989 17,894 710 176 24.7 1990 16,524 707 154 21.7 1991 15,235 725 184 25.3 1992 14,496 (616) 111 18 — 725 (109) 19 18.2 1993 14,416 565 123 14.1 1 Since late 1992 Vehicle Examiners have been asked to state specifically where in their judgement the defect definitely contributed to or caused the accident.
§ Mr. AlisonTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what co-ordination of policy exists between his Department and the metropolitan and county police authorities for the random roadside checks on heavy goods vehicles for ascertaining their operational safety; and what uniformity of practice obtains in this area.
§ Mr. NorrisAll police forces support Vehicle Inspectorate roadside enforcement checks by providing police officers to stop vehicles. At the start of each year, the inspectorate's area managers liaise locally with forces to agree road check programmes. Most police forces also employ specially authorised officers who can prohibit vehicles with defects which render them dangerous. Many of these officers have been trained by the Vehicle Inspectorate and all use the same manual for deciding which defects are prohibitable.