A crackdown on dangerous vans by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has seen 24 vans with mechanical defects found operating at a Birmingham market.
The major road safety operation last Friday (12 March) subjected vans and lorries entering the city’s wholesale market to DVSA enforcement checks, supported by the market’s organisers.
The work found 14 vans with defects so serious that drivers were told to stop using them until fixed.
Enforcement officers also found 10 overweight vans and one lorry which did not have a tachograph for drivers’ hours rules.
The DVSA has also revealed that the driver of a five-tonne van did not hold the appropriate driving licence while the vehicle did not have the required operator’s licence and tachograph.
DVSA’s head of enforcement delivery Laura Great-Rex said: “DVSA’s priority is protecting everyone from unsafe drivers and vehicles.
“Many of the vehicles we found to have problems during this Birmingham operation had major mechanical defects or were dangerously overweight.
“We will always pursue van and lorry drivers who recklessly put the lives of other road users at risk.”
