Irish lorries fare badly in UK tests

A high proportion of all Irish-registered lorries travelling in Britain failed to meet roadside mechanical or driver tests when checked in 2003-04, according to British road authorities.

The detection rate of failures - at 26.3 per cent for Irish heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) - exceeded that for vehicles from Austria and Spain as well as Britain's traditionally large trading partners the Netherlands, Germany and France. The failure rate for Irish HGV trailers was even worse at 45 per cent or almost half of all vehicles tested. But the data are not supported by detection rates in the Republic according to the Department of Transport.

Mr Stephen Hacker, a senior reporting officer with Britain's Vehicle and Operator Services Agency, said the tests were basic roadside safety tests and the failure rate was based on "prohibition", a British sanction whereby a lorry is prohibited from continuing its journey until the failure is rectified.

Mr Hacker said most offences detected related to failure to keep proper tachograph records, failure by drivers to take breaks, excessive driving hours, braking mechanisms in the lorries and headlight defects. "The Irish vehicles would unfortunately be among the worst that we find. They are the poorest vehicles and would be top of the league for mechanical faults."

Countries which fared worse than Ireland for HGV offences included Portugal, Poland, Italy and Belgium, but in relation to trailers, only Spain of 10 European countries analysed had a record worse than Ireland.

A spokesman for the Department of Transport said the discrepancy between Irish and British detection rates could be due to separate accounting between the Garda and the department in the Republic.

The services agency's figures were broadly accepted by the Irish Road Haulage Association which said the department "has issues" around the enforcement of conditions with unlicensed hauliers.