HL Deb 15 October 1997 vol 582 cc196-8WA
Lord Berkeley

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will list for each lorry weighbridge currently operational for checking weights of lorries entering the United Kingdom from the Continent:

  1. (a) the location and name of the facility owner;
  2. (b) the organisation responsible for its operation;
  3. (c) the number of lorries checked in the last 12 months;
  4. (d) the number of lorries found to be overweight; and
  5. (e) the number of successful prosecutions for overweight lorries;
and

Which lorry weighbridges previously used for checking for overweight lorries arriving from the Continent have ceased regular operation in the last 12 months.

Baroness Hayman

I have asked the Chief Executive of the Vehicle Inspectorate Agency, Mr. Ron Oliver, to write to my noble friend.

Letter to Lord Berkeley from the Chief Executive of the Vehicle Inspectorate, Mr. R. J. Oliver, dated 15 October 1997.

The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your questions asking for the following details about each lorry weighbridge currently operational for checking weights of lorries entering the United Kingdom from the Continent:

  1. (a) the location and name of the facility owner;
  2. (b) the organisation responsible for its operation;
  3. (c) the number of lorries checked in the last 12 months;
  4. (d) the number of lorries found to be overweight;
  5. (e) the number of successful prosecutions for overweight lorries.

The information shown in Table 1 below relates to weighing checks carried out by Vehicle Inspectorate staff during 1996/97 at weighbridge sites located solely at ports. A high proportion of international traffic is also checked at weighbridge sites on major internal routes and Table 2 contains details of weighing checks carried out at sites located on primary routes from ports. Weighing is also carried out by the police and local authority trading standards departments but we do not have detailed figures for their work at these weighbridges.

Whilst our current information system lists all vehicle weighings, it is not always possible to identify locations in every case and any unattributed weighings have not been included in the figures provided in the tables. As a result, the figures shown are underestimates and should be considered in the context of national figures for heavy goods vehicle weighings by the Vehicle Inspectorate during 1996/97, which resulted in 5,287 vehicles, out of 78,502 vehicles weighed, being prohibited from continuing on their journey until their loads had been adjusted to meet legal requirements. Upgrading of our information system over the coming year should enable weighbridge data to be broken down in a more detailed way.

Site specific information about prosecutions is not held, and we are therefore unable to supply details of successful prosecutions for overweight lorries resulting from individual checks. During 1996/97 there were 4,422 convictions for overloading of foreign and UK vehicles. The inspectorate's policy is to prosecute only where the degree of overload is considerable. Prosecutions are not always possible in cases where overweight vehicles are checked at ports as in these instances the vehicle may not be in use on a public road. Prohibitions can be issued regardless of the location of a vehicle weighing and provide an effective sanction, as they cause operators considerable inconvenience and cost whilst they adjust loads to comply with the legal requirements.

You also asked for information about lorry weighbridges previously used for checking overweight lorries arriving from the Continent which have ceased regular operation in the last 12 months. No weighbridges used by the inspectorate for this purpose have ceased regular operation in the last 12 months. Nor are we aware of the closure of any other weighbridges that we do not currently use.

Table 1
Location/Owner Organisation responsible for operation Number of vehicles weighed1 Number of overweight vehicles prohibited
A5 Holyhead/Welsh Office Vehicle Inspectorate on behalf of DETR 712 76
Poole Docks/Poole Harbour Authority as above 684 104
Portsmouth Docks/Portsmouth CC as above 1,219 101
Southampton/Norman Offer Norman Offer 372 42
Ramsgate/Ramsgate Port Authority Ramsgate Port Authority 257 21
Felixstowe Docks/Felixstowe Dock & Railway Company Vehicle Inspectorate on behalf of DETR 2,330 210
King George Dock, Hull/Association of British Ports as above 2,049 195
Total 7,251 749
1 This figure includes a small proportion of light goods vehicles and passenger vehicles.
Table 2
Location/Owner Port Organisation responsible for operation Number of vehicles weighed1 Number of overweight vehicles prohibited
A75 Castle Kennedy/Scottish Office Stranraer/Cairnryan Vehicle Inspectorate on behalf of DETR 619 45
A40 Narberth/Welsh Office Fishguard/Pembroke as above 891 79
A2 Boughton/DETR Dover/Folkestone/Ramsgate as above 459 49
A26 Beddingham/East Sussex CC Newhaven East Sussex CC 488 19
Total 2,457 192
1 This figure includes a small proportion of light goods vehicles and passenger vehicles.