Dangerous trucks ok, small plates no!

While insisting that there should be a crackdown on foreign trucks travelling in Wales, North Wales police Chief Constable Richard Brunstrom has warned that any action should not deter trade from the region.

Speaking to a group of cross-party ministers of the Welsh Assembly, Brunstrom said: “Something like 1% of lorries on our roads here in the UK are registered in other European countries, but 8% of the fatalities involving commercial vehicles are caused by foreign-registered vehicles.”

However he warned that if Wales began to stop dangerous foreign trucks, they could divert from Holyhead port. “If we start enforcing the law rigorously on the A55, we run the risk of severe economic damage to the port of Holyhead because traffic will simply transfer to Liverpool if there is a lighter touch there.”

Geoff Dunning, regional director for the North, including North Wales, at the Road Haulage Association, says Brunstrom’s comment are “strange”. “If there is a problem with foreign traffic on the A55 that the police are well aware of, then surely they should do something about it.”