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Tipper truck and cyclists (copyright Simon MacMichael)Nearly 3 in 4 lorries stopped by police in London don't comply with the law
Figures released by Transport for London today reveal that almost three in four lorries stopped by police in the capital do not comply with the law, including legislation relating to safety – a figure that Sustrans has described as “shocking.”
Issued by TfL on a day when a woman aged 26 became the eighth London cyclist to be killed on the city’s streets so far this year, with lorries involved in all but one of those fatal incidences, the data paint a stark picture of the level of non-compliance with the law on the part of vehicle operators.
Officers from the City of London Police Commercial Vehicle Unit, which was set up in May with funding from TfL, found that in its first month of operation, 95 of the 136 lorries stopped had to be taken off the road for non-compliance or safety reasons.
TfL says that issues identified included lack of insurance, driving without the appropriate licence, with unsafe tyres or an unsafe load, and not accurately recording driver hours.
It added that the operation is “targeted” and “intelligence led,” suggesting that the finding that such a high proportion of vehicles were found to be in breach of the law may in part reflect that only certain vehicles were stopped, and is not therefore representative of all lorries.
Nevertheless, Sustrans has said that even where operators do adhere to the law, lorries still present a danger, and has called for restrictions to be placed on them in London.
The sustainable transport charity’s deputy director for London, Matt Winfield, said: “It is important and challenging to move freight in this city, but the level of non-compliance with quite basic safety standards is shocking.’
“But even when HGVs are fully compliant with current safety regulations they are still dangerous vehicles to share the roads with.’
“Restrictions on how and where HGVs operate in the capital, as well as enforcement of safety standards and junctions designed to be safe for all users, are urgently required.”
The new City of London Police unit is working alongside the Metropolitan Police’s Commercial Vehicle Unit and the Industrial HGV Task Force, and along with them will help enforce the city’s Safer Lorry Scheme that comes into effect on 1 September.
TfL says it has also helped set up a new Freight Compliance Unit which will work alongside agencies such as the Office of the Transport Commissioner, and which it says will work “to ensure there is a coordinated, intelligence-led approach to taking non-compliant HGV drivers, vehicles and operators off the Capital's roads.”
TfL's director of enforcement and on-street operations, Steve Burton, 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.”
Inspector David Aspinall of City of London Police Inspector, commented: “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.”
TfL also confirmed details of the numbers of vehicles stopped during May, level of non-compliance and actions taken for each of the Metropolitan Police and City of London Police units and the Industrial HGV Task Force as follows:
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 seizedMay 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 seizedMay results for the City of London Police Commercial Vehicle Unit:
136 vehicles stopped, with 70 per cent being non-compliant
28 Roadworthiness Prohibitions issued
60 Fixed Penalty Notices.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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24 comments
That high number of non-roadworthy lorries stopped just means they're good at identifying likely lawbreakers before making the stop...
No, 75% of all HGVs are not breaking the law, and that's not what being said either.
Targeted stops of likely offenders, just like any other policing.
You can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs. Look at the Pyramids.
The article was clear that this was not a random sample of lorries in the city so it can not tell us anything in general about the compliance of lorries. We can't even say that this statistic shows anything about the police's ability to target non-compliant vehicles, for example a hit rate of 75% of targeted vehicles looks great if in general 5% of lorries are non-compliant but terrible if the real statistic is 95%. Basically this article tells us nothing except that the police have stopped some lorries and gave them tickets.
I saw a presentation from CEMEX at a Safety & Health expo last week (yes, the fun never starts). I was impressed with what was being said- other than their faith in warning stickers being part of the answer. They've got a good focus on both vehicle modification (bringing back side guards, fitting cameras and sensors as driver aids, cameras in the cabs of tipper trucks*) and on driver training- all their drivers in London have now done (and do as part of induction) a Safe Urban Driving course (which includes on-bike, on the road, sessions) and they're rolling that out nationwide. They're also one of the firms that's been investing in designing the "next generation" tipper trucks based on bin lorries, with lower level high-vision cabs- with the prototype in use and another on order (from Mercedes).
Problem is, the big (and responsible) firms are only part of the whole chain. There's innumerable firms operating one or two trucks on spot hire/piece work. And yes, they're likely to be the scruffy ones being badly driven.
*not in the cement mixer cabs though- apparently the union has resisted this. The tipper truck and other HGV drivers are less unionised
A lot of credit for CEMEX becoming one of the more responsible operators in the industry must go to Cynthia Barlow, who has done a huge amount to get them to improve their safety performance after the death of her daughter. More info: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/cyclesafety/article3307660.ece
That's a really good article. An interesting detail from the article is that Cemex fit their lorries with additional safety measures:
-Four sensors to detect cyclists within 2 metres of the truck. These create an audible alarm inside the cab and outside when a cyclist is detected during a turn
-Six mirrors to cover the blind spots
-Nearside bars to prevent cyclists being thrown underneath
Total cost? £600. Not even the cost of a new set of tyres.
The responsible and well run firms with fleets of tipper trucks like CEMEX or FM Conway for instance realise there's a business case for responsible operation. In the long run, fitting safety kit and giving their truck drivers extra training saves them money and also wins them contracts on grounds of being best practice operators. If any cyclist on this website was to have a punishment pass (or similar) from a truck belonging to one of those two, it's highly likely that any complaint would be followed up by management action against the offending driver, particularly if there was video evidence.
The real problem lies with the smaller, less professionally run companies that aren't so well managed and which operate on a more hand to mouth basis, with much older fleets.
something tells me that these lorries are for more a danger to *ALL* road users than the police sting operations on cyclists not have reflectors or doing some "dodgy" manouvers.
At least you guys have task forces to address this sort of issue..
And something (even awareness) is being improved..
Sadly down under and in many states (QLD) with no MOT type checks many vehicles on the roads are a joke.. we don't even have winter salt to rot them off the road..
As for the police, too few of them and too many letting things slide..
Thank god its sunny..
Any comments yet from the Freight Transport Association or the Road Haulage Federation? They normally having something to say about other peoples behaviour on the roads.
But hey, all those new buildings are rather smart aren't they?
Unfortunately, councils are often tasked with "reducing cyclist KSIs" rather than incidents per mile/journey. The easiest way to reduce cycle casualties is to reduce cycling.
These reports and statistics are all hot air. In January the mayors office reported that half the HGV's stopped were non compliant.
http://www.mayorwatch.co.uk/taskforce-praised-for-clamping-down-on-unsaf...
Now the figure is raised to 75% which shows that whatever they are doing it's ineffective.
These vehicles should be pulled off the road and their operators fined heavily. Until it hits contractors and subcontractors pockets in a meaningful way nothing will happen.
*playing Devil's advocate*
Or the police are becoming more efficient/have better intelligence when targeting these vehicles.
So what did the police do with the other 400 or so commercial vehicles they found to be uncompliant?
I'd like to see reports that say "this is what we've done to reduce cycling road deaths, here are the figures to match". Instead, all we get is "this is what we're going to do" and nothing ever happens.
but i guess the state of these lorries is by no means connected to cyclists deaths
Well it is and it isn't. The state of the trucks was probably not the direct cause of the fatal incidents. But the state of the trucks involved in the fatal incidents may be considered indicative of how those firms operate, with regard to hiring procedures for drivers and training.
A good rule of thumb to use when cycling (or driving) close to HGVs is to observe the general condition of the vehicle. If it is scruffy (and particularly grease stains can be seen around the rear differential showing the dirt has been there some time), then that suggests maintenance procedures are less thorough. If an HGV is recently (and regularly) washed, the firm may well have a more thorough approach to vehicle maintenance, and it will tend to have more rigorous procedures with regard to driver hiring and training too.
It is worth remembering that of those cycling fatalities involving HGVs in London, quite a number have been repeat incidents. It is also of note that looking at the trucks involved, the majority have been dirty suggesting maintenance may have been overlooked.
Not all tipper truck fleets are run by cowboys. Some firms in London do have higher standards and also require their drivers to undergo cycle training. One I know of also has several senior managers who are very keen roadies and regular sportive riders with their own team. The firm's safety record is also far better than average.
But it is highly indicative of the attitudes of the operators and drivers.
Yep, see my comment and AL_S's
These figures are a disgrace. The time has come to get these monsters off the streets. There is an obvious lack of law enforcement, how else do you explain over two thirds of these vehicles or drivers being non compliant with regulations? Sod the operators livelihoods, what about the road users they are maiming and killing? If they can't or won't comply, they don't deserve a livelihood.
The figures are shocking really. Yes this is London which has a major problem with this but it affects all road users all over the country. Of course nothing is done that much as the owners scream they will lose business.
Tough
Would be nice to see action taken by Met Police against HGV drivers who think this kind of driving is acceptable.
whether the vehicle is actually roadworthy (considering it was leaking a fluid further down the road before it stopped), is another matter that should be investigated
Photo should be enough to prosecute for s.19 RTA 1988 driving & parking a vehicle over 7.5T on footway, plus s.137 HA 1980 obstructing traffic (more difficult as traffic can get around it) and its stopped on double yellow lines so a parking fine as well?