Just seen on the BBC breakfast news that the new penalty system for foreign truckers starts today.
Will it make a difference and level the ‘playing field’ 
IMHO I dont think it will, VOSA will still target british trucks more than foreign ones as we are easier to prosicute. They wont want to make the expense of taking a driver to court in a foreign country if they have to prosicute them for an infringement, if they have anywhere near decent solicitors/lawyers/barristers then the most common thing you’ll hear from the courts will be that the lorry is legal in their country.
If that makes any bloody sense at all I’ll be surprised 
From what I could gather from the news, speeding and other road traffic violations will incur the same penalties as we do.
If unable to pay immediately then the truck goes nowhere until paid and they amass the same penalty points on a ‘virtual’ UK licence so when it gets to 12, they get banned from UK roads.
I assume the same happens (re fines) if faults are found on the truck or tacho
Foreign drivers will have to pay on-the-spot fines of up to £900 for flouting traffic laws under new legislation to be introduced next month.
If they do not have enough cash or a working credit card their vehicles will be clamped until they pay – and they will face an additional £80 release fee.
The law will also apply to British residents who cannot prove at the roadside that they have a valid address in Britain.
The fines will be described officially as “deposits” when introduced on April 1 because the money would be refunded if the driver went to court and was found not guilty. In practice, very few foreign drivers are likely to return to Britain to contest their cases.
Foreign drivers are rarely prosecuted because police cannot take action against them if they fail to respond to a summons. Instead, officers often merely give verbal warnings.
Three million foreign-registered vehicles enter Britain each year. Polish vehicles account for 36 per cent, French vehicles for 10 per cent and German vehicles for 9 per cent.
Foreign vehicles are 30 per cent likelier to be in a crash than a British-registered vehicle, according to research by London Councils. The number of crashes caused by foreign vehicles increased by 47 per cent between 2002 and 2007. There were almost 400 deaths and serious injuries and 3,000 slight injuries from accidents involving foreign vehicles in 2007.
The new law is partly intended to tackle the problem of foreign lorry drivers ignoring limits on weight and hours at the wheel and driving with faulty brakes. Foreign lorries are three times more likely per mile travelled to be in a collision than British lorries, according to an insurance industry study in 2007. Recent spot checks at Holyhead, in Anglesey, found that three quarters of lorries that failed safety tests were registered overseas.
Inspectors from the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency, which enforces lorry safety rules, will have the same powers as police to demand payment of deposits and to clamp the vehicles of non-payers. Drivers observed committing more than one offence will pay a maximum of £900 at the roadside.
The standard deposit for a careless driving offence – including driving too close to the vehicle in front or reading a map at the wheel – will be £300. Deposits for speeding offences and using hand-held mobile phones will be £60, in line with existing fixed penalties. Foreign drivers will not have penalty points added to their licences, however, in contrast to British drivers.
The AA said that the new law was long overdue because British drivers had been paying on-the-spot fines on the Continent for many years. Edmund King, the AA president, said: “We get many complaints from members, especially those using motorways to Channel ports, about reckless driving by foreign vehicles. They ignore the rules because they know that, even if caught, nothing will happen. There is no doubt that on-the-spot fines in France have made British drivers slow and take greater care. Our roads will be safer once foreign drivers realise they will face immediate consequences for bad driving.”
Richard Brunstrom, chief constable of North Wales and national police spokesman on traffic enforcement, welcomed the change. He said: “This will enable the police to enforce the law fairly and consistently, regardless of where drivers are from.”
A separate European Union enforcement plan is eventually expected to allow police to issue fines to foreign drivers caught by speed and red-light cameras.
LEFT-HANDED HAZARD
– 1,275 people were injured in crashes involving foreign lorries in 2007
– 20% of collisions involving foreign HGVs are “side swipes” as left-hand drive vehicles pull out to the right
– 22% of foreign lorries checked in 2006 had serious safety defects, compared with 8.9 per cent of British vehicles
– 1,233 foreign drivers were found to be evading the requirement to register their cars within six months of bringing them to Britain during a week-long DVLA campaign last autumn
– 19 minutes is the average length of a driving test in France. In Spain it is 20 minutes, in Britain 36
Sources: DfT; Vosa; DVLA; ABI
ROG:
Just seen on the BBC breakfast news that the new penalty system for foreign truckers starts today.Will it make a difference and level the ‘playing field’
Would really like to believe it but considering todays date ime keeping an “open mind” 
SWraith:
IMHO I dont think it will, VOSA will still target british trucks more than foreign ones as we are easier to prosicute. They wont want to make the expense of taking a driver to court in a foreign country if they have to prosicute them for an infringement, if they have anywhere near decent solicitors/lawyers/barristers then the most common thing you’ll hear from the courts will be that the lorry is legal in their country.If that makes any bloody sense at all I’ll be surprised
I agree, I think this will just be a cash cow for the government; the government will give the enforcement agency’s unrealistic targets to meet on issuing FPN’s to foreign registered trucks.
As we know the government already give police targets for fighting crime so don’t see how this would be any different 
They’ll soon realise that the targets are hard to reach so they’ll target British trucks only, saves time and hassle for them, and means more time for them being out on the road doing “penalty patrols” and something that before the FPN’s may have been trivial/a caution would now attract a £500 fine and 6 points on your licence and an invitation for a one on one meeting with Beverly Bell 
They’ll be watching our every move just waiting for us to slip up, no matter how trivial or how small. “GOTCHA” ‘kerching’ “WHO CAN WE GET NEXT” 
Suedehead:
ROG:
Just seen on the BBC breakfast news that the new penalty system for foreign truckers starts today.Will it make a difference and level the ‘playing field’
Would really like to believe it but considering todays date ime keeping an “open mind”
No april fool’s this has been in the pipe line for a long time
Rember you’ll get given one of these for free when you first get pulled from now on
Use it to pay the FPN and you earn nectar points at the same time, £1 = 100 points. 
FIRST give the enforcement officals time to
use their powers before condeming them without
any evidence, secondly it is great that these fines
are now to be used, This will help Deter yes Deter
those who break the law who ever they are, what
would also be good is if the VOSA come over to
Germany and talked to the police/bag ;WHO in NRW
have lots of experience with the same problem
when dealing with NON EU trucks they have a special#troop whose job it is to check ALL trucks but they also have personnel who speak polish, russian,english etc,
This means the Vosa must have people who speak
various languages on standbye to help with
such problems, along with their paperwork which they may have all ready in various languages
pecjam23:
Suedehead:
ROG:
Just seen on the BBC breakfast news that the new penalty system for foreign truckers starts today.Will it make a difference and level the ‘playing field’
Would really like to believe it but considering todays date ime keeping an “open mind”
No april fool’s
Rember you’ll get given one of these for free when you first get pulled from now on
Use it to pay the FPN and you earn nectar points at the same time, £1 = 100 points.
Do they do cashback ?
saucyboar5:
just nicked this from another thread,http://www.essex.police.uk/news/n_cont. … cleId=4529
Think you meant this
Essex Police NewsLine
Force may be the first to immobilise a vehicle
By Heather Watts
Essex Police believe they may be one of the first forces to immobilise a vehicle under legislation introduced today (1 April) under the Road Safety Act 2006.
Officers carried out a stop check at just before 6 am at Chelmsford on a Dutch lorry that had been travelling on the A12 and the driver was found to have exceeded his hours. An immobilisation device was fitted to the driver’s steering wheel and will be removed this afternoon when the driver has taken his rest break.
The legislation introduced this month which will see a change to the fixed penalty notice system and also introduce powers for police to immobilise vehicles.
Fixed Penalty Notices (FPN) and Graduated Fixed Penalty Notices (GFPN) will also be introduced for certain offences where the driver does not have a UK licence or where there is no satisfactory UK address.
This legislation also introduces the ability to require a cash deposit from the driver. If they fail to pay a deposit then their vehicle can be immobilised.
A vehicle can also be immobilised in circumstances where previously it would have only been subject of a prohibition eg should a driver have infringed hours regulations or for a defective or overweight vehicle. For instance if a driver does not take his daily rest break the vehicle can be immobilised for 11 hours forcing the driver to comply with traffic legislation.
Additionally an immobilisation device can remain in place until any defects to the vehicle are repaired.
Commercial Traffic Investigator Pc Harry Sexton said: “This legislation enables the police to effectively deal with illegal vehicles and their drivers. Prior to the introduction of this legislation a prohibition notice would be issued but thereafter the driver was trusted not to drive the vehicle.
Many failed to comply with the prohibition and police would find a vehicle had arrived at Dover whilst still prohibited.
This legislation will prevent a tired driver who has been caught continuing to drive.
This will have a significant impact on the reduction of serious collisions and the safety of other road users and make the roads not just in Essex but the country a safer place.”
April 1, 2009
I see this as well overdue and the only good thing this useless government has done in the last 12yrs. The Dutch driver who got nicked this morning for over hours was no doubt planning on tipping and reloading today and back on the ferry tonight. Hopefully his company and many other foreign companies will ensure their drivers are running legal from now on and not pushing them to run bent.
I worked for De-Rooy about 17yrs ago and they would pay for every hour drove, legal or not, at overtime rate. The truck transporters ran in pairs. One hit from Eindhoven to Barcelona, tip and drive straight back none stop piggybacking. One truck & trailer on the back of the other. 4hrs driving, 4hrs dossing in the bunk.
Foreign lorries are three times more likely per mile travelled to be in a collision than British lorries, according to an insurance industry study in 2007. Recent spot checks at Holyhead, in Anglesey, found that three quarters of lorries that failed safety tests were registered overseas.
Cannot argue with the facts, however I think this statistic is a little biased.As the vast majority of vehicles travelling through Holyhead are foreign,(Irish or European) ,then it goes without saying that the vast majority (75%) of test failures were foreign.They would have to be on numbers alone.
If a similar survey were done in a Channel port,the figure would possibly be a little less flattering,as the foreign versus British registrations count,would be a lot more even.I do accept the point however that there is a large discrepancy in test results.
Just look on the bright side. If they have to stick to our rules and regulations where hours are concerned that will mean that they will not be able to do so many collections and deliveries per week. Costs will then go up meaning that the rates will not be able to be undercut.
VOSA seem to be very active all over the country at the moment including Perry Barr at Birmingham last Friday night. I was asked by my customer to go and change trailers with a Belgian sub-contractor who was overweight on his drive axle. When I had changed trailers the Police were called to remove the prohibition so I asked how these “Fines” were to work, he informed me that they didn`t know what was happening and VOSA believed they were not yet allowed to issue them so as usual it appears that the status quo prevails, ie:- Business as usual