§ Mr. BrakeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) what estimate he has made of the number of occasions over a five-year period on which a driver of an HGV can expect to be stopped for a roadside check by the Vehicle Inspectorate; [22832]
(2) what proportion of vehicles stopped by the Vehicle Inspectorate at roadside checks that were found to be unroadworthy or otherwise in breach of regulations, were registered outside the United Kingdom. [22834]
353W
§ Ms Glenda JacksonI have asked the Chief Executive of the Vehicle Inspectorate Executive Agency, Mr. Ron Oliver, to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Ron Oliver to Mr. Tom Brake, dated 16 January 1998:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your questions about the estimated number of occasions over a 5–year period on which a driver of an HGV can expect to be stopped for a roadside check by the Vehicle Inspectorate and what proportion of vehicle stopped by the Inspectorate found to be unroadworthy or otherwise in breach of regulations, were registered outside the United Kingdom.There are approximately 406,500 HGVs (i.e., vehicles with a design gross weight in excess of 3,500 kgs) operating annually on a commercial basis in the UK. The Inspectorate carries out in the region of 360,000 roadside checks of HGVs a year. On this basis it is estimated that an HGV driver could be stopped between 4 or 5 time over a 5–year period by the Inspectorate. I should add that the Inspectorate's examiners target their checks to find the more serious defects and breaches of law.Details of vehicles registered outside the UK found to be unroadworthy or in breach of regulations at Inspectorate roadside checks during 1996–97 are shown below:
Number Number Number of vehicles found to be unroadworthy/in breach of regulations 35,104 (34,537) Number of above vehicles registered outside UK 1,651 (1,084) Percentage of above registered outside UK 4.7 (3.1) 1. Figures exclude vehicles prohibited as a result of an instrumented smoke only check as this data does not distinguish if a vehicle is registered outside the UK.
2. The figures include prohibitions issued for drivers' hours offences which are only issued to vehicles registered outside the UK. Figures in brackets exclude these prohibitions.
§ Mr. BrakeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will introduce legislation to impound heavy goods vehicles found at roadside checks to be in unsafe condition. [22833]
§ Ms Glenda JacksonWe are developing a scheme for the detention of illegally operated heavy goods vehicles, but this would require primary legislation and there would first need to be a public consultation exercise. There are still a number of practical issues to be resolved before we can go out to consultation and these are being addressed.