In the end it was possibly the most boring Budget in recent years, with the traditional rabbit yanked out of the hat at the crescendo increasingly looking like it is suffering from myxomatosis as the days wear on.

The cash grab from oil companies in order to replace the 1ppl loss of fuel duty, as well as a delay in an extra 5p being added from 1^st April look very likely to come back to haunt the Chancellor.

The BBC’s economics editor Stephanie Flanders asked the chief secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander what was going to stop oil companies passing on the cost of their extra tax onto consumers.
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As predicted in this blog three months ago the Department for Transport has decided to keep the current drink driving limit as it is and instead look at tightening enforcement.

However, you only need to watch five minutes of daytime TV to see that it’s not just road safety charities that believe this is a bad idea.

Aside from the public reaction, various C-grade celebrities sat on This Morning’s sofa and provided confused, inchoate thoughts about why a zero-tolerance approach should have been announced by Transport Secretary Philip Hammond.
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Of all the parts of a lorry that are subjected to regular monitoring, tests and replacements you’d expect wheels to come high up the list.

But surely they do, you might respond. VOSA is always checking companies’ fleets for defects and issuing prohibitions when they encounter damaged wheels.

However, this would be to confuse tyres with the forged aluminium discs they surround. According to wheel distributor Motor Wheels Services (MWS), wheels escape scrutiny and for that reason there is a serious road safety risk that is not being addressed.
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The publication of the Senior Traffic Commissioner’s draft Statutory Guidance and Directions back in January was widely welcomed by the haulage industry (including this blog: http://tiny.cc/j7cmr).

But while STC Philip Brown and his drafting team were getting slaps on the back for innovating and attempting “to make the existing regulatory requirements more accessible”, the Freight Transport Association was getting its hands dirty and its mind confused about the result of their achievements.

In its four-page response to the consultation on the new G+Ds the FTA doesn’t shy away from pricking the STC’s bubble. “The style of the documents, especially the directions are difficult to read and understand,” it states.
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VOSA’s fixed penalty system covers many of the drivers’ hours and record keeping offences to which road hauliers can fall foul.

However, we are increasingly picking up summonses served on clients for false tachograph records, which is clearly a very serious matter.

It is not difficult to see why this might be the case either. Hauliers have probably never had it so bad, with rizla-thin margins, barrel bottom rates and increasingly tough competition from abroad.

The temptation to avoid revealing just how far and how long your drivers are on the road may be too much for those desperate enough to risk prosecution.

This could well have been the case for Boyle Transport boss Patrick Boyle.

At Carlisle Crown Court last week the managing director of one of Northern Ireland’s largest haulage firms admitted getting 15 of his drivers to falsify their tachograph records.

His son Mark, also a director, pleaded guilty to the conspiracy as well. They will both be sentenced in April, as will the 15 drivers.

In another case last year the boss of Scottish haulier Cameron Young Transport, Cameron Young, was disqualified indefinitely after his firm was found to have wound back tacho clocks, pulled fuses and used ‘ghost drivers’ to falsify records.

The Scottish deputy Traffic Commissioner said that in 14 years of being a DTC he could not recall a case as bad as this one.

Times are hard and only the most energetic, innovative and stubborn hauliers will survive. Temptation or not there is never any room for flouting the law.

For further information contact Anton Balkitis or Lucy Wood on 0800 046 3066 or visit the website if you are looking for motoring solicitors.

Earlier this week a flurry of news stories emerged claiming the government was looking at raising the speed limit on motorways to 80mph.

But finding an actual quote by Transport Secretary Philip Hammond that places this very surprising development beyond any doubt proved somewhat difficult.

However, the reports are consistent in saying Hammond thinks safety alone cannot be the sole determining factor when changing limits and that instead a thorough cost-benefit analysis that takes into account the economic impact must also be carried out when deciding these matters.
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