HC Deb 13 March 1995 vol 256 cc448-51W
Ms Walley

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) how many clerical staff within the Vehicle Inspectorate are currently undertaking traffic examiner duties on temporary promotion;

(2) how many tachographs were examined by the Vehicle Inspectorate in each of he last 12 months; and how many prosecutions resulted from these checks;

(3) how many spot checks on vehicles were undertaken by the Vehicle Inspectorate at the ports of Dover, Hull, Felixstowe and Liverpool; and how many traffic examiners were stationed at each port in each of the last five years;

(4) how many vehicles were weighed by the Vehicle Inspectorate in each of the last 12 months; and how many prosecutions resulted from those checks;

(5) how many vehicles were examined at vehicle spot checks by the Vehicle Inspectorate in each of the last 12 months; and how many prosecutions resulted from these checks.

Mr. Norris

There are operational matters for the Vehicle Inspectorate Agency. I have asked the chief executive to write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Ron Oliver to Ms Joan Walley, dated 13 March 1995: The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your questions concerning various enforcement activities within the Agency for each of the last 12 months. There are currently 2 clerical staff undertaking traffic examiner duties on temporary promotion. The posts are scheduled to be trawled and filled on substantive promotion in the near future. Details of the number of tachograph examined, total number of roadworthiness spot checks and number of vehicles weighed in each of the last 12 months are shown in the attached annexes. Current details for the information on prosecutions is not available in the form requested. However, for 1993/94 there were 4,422 successful prosecutions for drivers hours offences, 5,521 for overloading offences and 5,620 other traffic offences. We have recently centralised and refined the handling of prosecution work within the Agency. This will improve the collection and availability of data. The road transport enforcement work within the Inspectorate is broadly divided into 23 geographical "Areas" I have provided details of traffic examiner checks at or in the approaches of harbours for the areas in which Dover (Area 14), Hull (Area 21), Felixstowe (Area 17) and Liverpool (Area 6) are based. The figures include checks made at all harbours within the area, we do not have separate Figures for each Port. Traffic examiners are required to work throughout the area and are not "stationed" to work exclusively at the Ports. The current number of traffic examiners for these 4 "Areas" are.

Number of traffic examiners
Area 6 7
Area 14 10
Area 17 6
Area 21 5

Roadside spot checks February 1994 to January 1995
PSV HGV LGV
February 2,348 9,740 3,477
March 1,601 6,520 2,104
April 1,467 11,505 2,522
May 2,140 12,834 3,349

Vehicle examination (including weighing) at harbours, within selected enforcement areas
April May June July August September October November December January Total for 10 months
Area 6
HGV 104 105 74 85 203 69 220 215 57 16 1,148
Light goods 134 136 100 120 282 85 309 280 74 19 1,539
PSV 0 0 5 14 0 6 0 4 0 0 29
238 241 179 219 485 160 529 499 131 35 2,716
Area 14
HGV 205 282 346 428 267 503 618 917 599 664 4,829
Light goods 327 450 500 655 381 690 791 1,098 707 906 6,505
PSV 55 90 72 48 37 163 81 90 86 71 793
587 822 918 1,131 685 1,356 1,490 2,105 1,392 1,641 12,127

Roadside spot checks February 1994 to January 1995
PSV HGV LGV
June 2,435 10,578 3,375
July 3,821 14,277 4,682
August 2,619 10,982 4,153
September 2,673 12,296 7,905
October 2,482 12,080 4,645
November 2,758 10,622 6,483
December 2,473 8,860 5,892
January 2,534 6,773 7,495

Monthly checking of tachographs and weighing of vehicles
HGV tachos PSV tachos
1994
February 138,153 10,700
March 133,503 32,294
April 107,742 9,404
May 110,981 13,620
June 107,256 21,197
July 153,115 34,037
August 123,186 29,488
September 129,186 28,430
October 123,170 21,755
November 121,916 16,204
December 110,818 21,751
1995
January 94,882 14,277
Total 1,454,570 253,167

Total tachographs (12 months) = 1,707,737

Monthly weighing of vehicles
HGV weighings PSV weighings Light goods weighings
1994
February 8,549 31 411
March 9,594 70 580
April 6,905 90 428
May 6,797 145 487
June 6,904 210 467
July 9,183 444 576
August 7,573 231 523
September 10,474 124 642
October 18,863 52 584
November 22,907 62 561
December 18,371 89 674
1995
January 6,106 12 557
Total 132,226 1,560 5,690

Total weighings (12 months) = 140,476

Vehicle examination (including weighing) at harbours, within selected enforcement areas
April May June July August September October November December January Total For 10 months
Area 17
HGV 958 892 776 1,442 814 1,022 1,676 2,180 515 1,001 11,276
Light goods 1,458 1,410 1,187 1,972 11,28 1,104 1,703 2,193 525 1,348 14,028
PSV 26 31 25 36 18 17 0 3 0 0 156
2,442 2,333 1,988 3,450 1,960 2,143 3,379 4,376 1,040 2,349 25,460
Area 21
HGV 978 705 331 467 125 200 116 41 146 5 3,114
Light goods 1,150 826 397 554 132 228 118 43 147 5 3,600
PSV 210 165 0 0 29 128 17 107 16 0 672
2,338 1,696 728 1,021 286 556 251 191 309 10 7,386