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Transport Secretary Stephen Ladyman has admitted that VOSA does not have the resources to deal with LGV drivers bringing unroadworthy vehicles into this country and flouting road safety regulations.

However, the BBC programme that highlighted the problem of Continental drivers arriving in the UK with sub-standard trucks has been attacked by the Transport General Workers Union for whipping up xenophobia (see panel, right).

Stephen Ladyman was responding to concerns on Real Stories that he is happier with what VOSA was achieving than it is itself, after officers complained they don't have the money to deal with the influx of drivers flouting the law.

Ladyman says: "Do I think they have all the resources they would like? No. Do I think there are still people who are breaking the law and bringing unroadworthy vehicles into this country? Of course. And I am not happy about that at all. But we have to make the best possible use of the resources we have got."

A Department for Transport (DfT) spokesman says Ladyman was trying to explain that everyone could do with more resources.

However, the spokesman admits that enforcement is not a government priority: "There's a general principle that the government has to prioritise where resources are going, as do we all."

A statement later released by the DfT adds: "During 2004/05 VOSA received an income of £152m an increase of £7.6m on the previous year. We are committed to ensuring VOSA  has the resources it needs to meet its objectives."

entry fee CALL

Kent County Council leader Paul Carter has called for foreign truck drivers to pay a £10 charge as they enter the UK at the county's ports. He says a £10 toll would help fund the upkeep of Kent's roads and a third Thames bridge.

Carter, who has also slammed safety standards on foreign trucks, toldKent on Sunday: "I keep being told that we can't have a differential charging system because it is against European legislation.

I think other European countries navigate their way round that legislation."

'Whole industry needs taking to task' says union

The Transport & General Workers Union has hit out at the media for portraying foreigndrivers as unsafe, saying that it is the industry overall that should be taken to task for long hours and poor vehicle standards.

Ron Webb, T&G nationalsecretary for transport, is concerned by recent press reports about Eastern European drivers which portray them as breaking drivers' hours regulations and using poorly maintained trucks. The focus on Eastern European drivers diverts attention away from the problems of stronger regulation of drivers' hours and higher vehicle standards for all road users, says Webb.

"It is extremely unhelpful to put a narrow, headline grabbing xenophobic focus on foreign drivers when the truth is it is the industry that needs taking to task," he adds.

Drivers in the UK are still working long hours, says the T&G. It points out that truck drivers routinely work nearly 30% more hours than the UK average in spite of the EU Working Time Directive which stipulates an average 48-hour week.

T&G general secretary Tony Woodley says there is no evidence to show the directive is cutting drivers' hours. "Thegovernment promised a review of how the Directive is working in the UK," says Woodley.

"Reports from T&G representatives up and down the country make it clear nothing seems to have changed. That is something we'll be bringing to ministers' attention."

The Annual Survey of Hours & Earnings produced by the Office of National Statistics for 2005 showed median weekly hours for lorry drivers were 48, comp-ared with a UK median of 37.

Truck drivers worked an average of 49.3 hours per week the UK average was 38.3 hours.