From 1 September 2014, the DVSA has vowed to take a ‘more robust approach’ to commercial vehicles with defective fuel systems.
Following a Highways Agency (HA) report on the effect of diesel fuel spills on the road network, the Department for Transport (DfT) has asked DVSA to review the sanctions issued at the roadside for vehicles with defective fuel tanks and systems.
Last year HA reported 255 fuel spills, including on dual carriageways and motorways, resulting in lane closures and significant delays. The risks to road safety are obvious and DVSA advises that it takes an average of five hours to clear a fuel spill, wasting time and creating disruption to traffic. During roadside checks between 2013 and 2014, roadside examiners detected 2,390 fuel system defects and issued over 1,500 prohibitions to vehicles with defective fuel systems.
The DVSA has reviewed sanctions for defective fuel systems and agreed some changes with DfT. In a statement on its Matters of Testing blog, the Agency said, “The main difference is that we’ll now only issue immediate prohibitions for defective fuel systems and leaks. We have communicated these to the trade associations and updated the changes into the Categorisation of Defects and Enforcement Sanctions Policy”.
