WIREDGOV

City of London Police Commercial Vehicle Unit will work alongside Met Police and Industrial HGV Task Force to target dangerous vehicles.

• 95 non-compliant vehicles are taken off the road in the City during the unit's first month

A new TfL-funded Commercial Vehicle Unit, run by the City of London Police, has launched a crack-down on dangerous vehicles in the City, stopping 136 vehicles and taking 95 dangerous vehicles off the road during its first month of operation.

The unit has been set up as part of a far-reaching effort to further improve road safety and take non-compliant and unsafe commercial vehicles off the roads. HGVs are involved in a disproportionate number of collisions, particularly those involving vulnerable road users, and Transport for London, and its policing partners, are committed to reducing these incidents through education and enforcement activity.

During the unit's first month of targeted, intelligence lead operations, it found drivers of the 95 non-compliant vehicles to be committing a number of offences, including:

• Lack of insurance;
• Driving without the appropriate licence;
• Driving with unsafe tyres;
• Driving a vehicle with an unsafe load;
• Not accurately recording driver hours.

Steve Burton, TfL's Director of Enforcement and On-Street Operations, said:

'The newly formed City of London Police Commercial Vehicle Unit will help us go further in targeting the most dangerous HGVs and taking them off our roads.

'Our enforcement activity is targeted at improving road safety, and alongside our policing partners, we will be using all of our powers and intelligence networks to ensure vehicles that are not safe and compliant will no longer be able to operate.'

The new team will complement the already established Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) Commercial Vehicle Unit and the Industrial HGV Task Force, that work across London enforcing against dangerous commercial and construction vehicles and their drivers. It will also work to enforce the Capital's forthcoming Safer Lorry Scheme, which gets underway on 1 September.

TfL has also part funded a new Freight Compliance Unit, who will work closely with, and support, London's enforcement and regulatory agencies, including the Office of the Traffic Commissioner.

The Unit, which includes staff from the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency and the MPS, will undertake analysis and work with on street enforcement teams to ensure there is a coordinated, intelligence-led approach to taking non-compliant HGV drivers, vehicles and operators off the Capital's roads.

The unit will also make use of Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras to identify any operators who have had their licences modified or taken away by the Traffic Commissioner, and ensure the on-street enforcement teams are targeting these non-compliant operators.

David Aspinall, City of London Police Inspector, said:

'The new Commercial Vehicle Unit is committed to making the City of London a safer place for people to come visit, work and live. The team will target those operators and vehicles within the commercial sector who do not comply with the regulations in place that are designed for the safety of others.

'Working with Transport for London and the DVSA has already shown the benefits of a true partnership approach to dealing with Operators who are prepared to take risks with the safety of others. We look forward to developing this partnership further and working more closely with key stakeholders to encourage operators to become compliant or remove them from the road.'

Notes to Editor:

The Industrial HGV Task Force, formed in October 2013, and funded by Transport for London and the Department for Transport, aims to crackdown on non-compliant HGV operators and drivers in the Capital. It is made up of officers from the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), City of London Police (CoLP), and Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA).

May results for the MPS Commercial Vehicle Unit:

• 752 vehicles stopped, with 71 per cent being non compliant
• 72 Roadworthiness Prohibitions issued
• 184 Fixed Penalty Notices
• 24 vehicles seized

May results for the Industrial HGV Task Force:

• 199 vehicles stopped, with 82 per cent being non compliant
• 119 Roadworthiness Prohibitions issued
• 61 Fixed Penalty Notices
• 7 vehicles seized

May results for the CoLP Commercial Vehicle Unit:

• 136 vehicles stopped, with 70 per cent being non compliant
• 28 Roadworthiness Prohibitions issued
• 60 Fixed Penalty Notices