Commercial vehicle checks reveal disappointing results

Defective tyres and lights, insecure loads, obscured vision, driver hour discrepancies, and driving without insurance were just some of the offences uncovered in commercial vehicle checks carried out last week.

Our Roads Policing Officers spent time last week conducting vehicle checks on commercial vehicles. During the operation they focused on light goods vehicles such as transit vans and similar sized flatbed trucks or tipper vans extending right the way up the scale to articulated lorries and abnormal loads which require escort on our road network. The checks were conducted at sites across Lincolnshire alongside colleagues from Humberside Police and the Driver Vehicles Standards Agency,

Officers stopped a total of 52 drivers, 31 of which were reported for at least one offence. The offences revealed vehicles without insurance, without current test certificates, drivers failing to wear a seat belt, driver hour discrepancies, insecure loads, defective tyres or lights, drivers having their vision obscured either through defective windscreens or items within the cab restricting visibility and therefore causing additional danger to other road users.

Nine vehicles were found to be overweight and one PG9 prohibition notice was issued for a vehicle where the seatbelt fixing was broken.

These are important safety devices. The potential impact for anyone not wearing a seatbelt in a collision cannot be understated.

Where a vehicle is prohibited, it cannot be used until the identified issue is fixed and evidence is provided that this has happened; additionally, the driver remains liable for prosecution of the relevant offence.

Chief Inspector Gary Brockie, Roads Policing, Lincolnshire Police, said: “It is really disappointing to uncover so many defects and offences on commercial vehicles, especially when these are used in the course of a business reflecting on those who own and operate them.

Our Roads Policing Officers are trained, skilled and experienced in this important aspect of policing, with these results in mind it is right that we retain this focus. To be clear, this does not reflect all professional drivers, who in the main, pride themselves in keeping their vehicles and loads in a safe condition and road worthy, but it is surprising to find so many drivers putting other road users, and themselves, at risk.