{"id":87938,"date":"2018-01-12T00:00:01","date_gmt":"2018-01-12T00:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=a37e8ca04fc25edc71513cb72ef2e325"},"modified":"2018-01-12T00:00:01","modified_gmt":"2018-01-12T00:00:01","slug":"news-story-more-than-100-lorry-operators-caught-deliberately-damaging-air-quality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=87938","title":{"rendered":"News story: More than 100 lorry operators caught deliberately damaging air quality"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>In August 2017, <abbr title=\"Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency\">DVSA<\/abbr> started to include checks for emissions cheat devices in roadside checks of lorries at 5 locations across Great Britain.<\/p>\n<p>By the end of November 2017, <abbr title=\"Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency\">DVSA<\/abbr> examiners had searched 3,735 lorries at these locations and found 293 lorries with a cheat device fitted.<\/p>\n<p>The drivers and operators were given 10 days to fix the emissions system, or face a \u00a3300 fine and having the vehicle taken off the road.<\/p>\n<p>Where a driver or operator repeatedly offends, <abbr title=\"Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency\">DVSA<\/abbr> can take the vehicle off the road immediately.<\/p>\n<table class=\"js-barchart-table mc-stacked mc-auto-outdent\">\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Where the vehicle was registered<\/th>\n<th>Percentage of vehicles without a cheat device<\/th>\n<th>Percentage of vehicles with a cheat device<\/th>\n<th>Total<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Great Britain registered<\/td>\n<td>91.5%<\/td>\n<td>8.5%<\/td>\n<td>100%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Northern Ireland registered<\/td>\n<td>79.6%<\/td>\n<td>20.4%<\/td>\n<td>100%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Registered outside the UK<\/td>\n<td>95.1%<\/td>\n<td>4.9%<\/td>\n<td>100%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Total<\/td>\n<td>92.2%<\/td>\n<td>7.8%<\/td>\n<td>100%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h2 id=\"how-cheat-devices-damage-air-quality\">How cheat devices damage air quality<\/h2>\n<p>Cheat devices cut the cost of operating, but give false emissions readings which can result in the release of excessive emissions into the atmosphere.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the way this is done include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>using devices designed to stop emissions control systems from working<\/li>\n<li>removing the diesel particulate filter or trap<\/li>\n<li>using cheap, fake emission reduction devices or diesel exhaust fluid<\/li>\n<li>using illegal engine modifications which result in excessive emissions<\/li>\n<li>removing or bypassing the exhaust gas recirculation valve<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 id=\"checking-more-than-100-operators-fleets\">Checking more than 100 operators\u2019 fleets<\/h2>\n<p>Following the roadside checks, <abbr title=\"Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency\">DVSA<\/abbr> examiners are inspecting more than 100 operators\u2019 vehicle fleets for emission cheat devices. Some of the companies being inspected operate up to 80 vehicles.<\/p>\n<p><abbr title=\"Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency\">DVSA<\/abbr> is passing its findings on to the Traffic Commissioners for Great Britain, who have the power to take away an operator\u2019s licence.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"working-with-eu-agencies-to-deal-with-polluters\">Working with EU agencies to deal with polluters<\/h2>\n<p><abbr title=\"Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency\">DVSA<\/abbr> is also working with its counterpart agencies across Europe to make sure that all offences committed by hauliers from outside Great Britain are dealt with in the country they\u2019re based.<\/p>\n<p>Following the success of this operation, <abbr title=\"Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency\">DVSA<\/abbr> will start checking for emissions cheat devices at more locations across Great Britain from Spring 2018.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"damaging-air-quality-and-risking-public-health\">Damaging air quality and risking public health<\/h2>\n<p>Poor air quality is the largest environmental risk to public health in the UK.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s known to have more severe effects on vulnerable groups, for example, the elderly, children and people already suffering from pre-existing lung and heart conditions.<\/p>\n<p>The government is committed to taking action against poor air quality.The checks support the government\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/air-quality-plan-for-nitrogen-dioxide-no2-in-uk-2017\">plan for reducing roadside nitrogen dioxide concentrations<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This includes looking at ways to reduce emissions produced by vehicles, including those used commercially.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"protecting-you-from-unsafe-drivers-and-vehicles\">Protecting you from unsafe drivers and vehicles<\/h2>\n<p>Gareth Llewellyn, <abbr title=\"Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency\">DVSA<\/abbr> Chief Executive, said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><abbr title=\"Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency\">DVSA<\/abbr>\u2019s priority is to protect you from unsafe drivers and vehicles.<\/p>\n<p>We are committed to taking dangerous lorries off Britain\u2019s roads. Stopping emissions fraud is a vital part of that.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">Anyone who flouts the law is putting the quality of our air and the health of vulnerable people, at risk. We won\u2019t hesitate to take action against these drivers, operators and vehicles.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Richard Turfitt, Senior Traffic Commissioner, said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Traffic Commissioners welcome the steps being taken by the enforcement agency to identify emissions cheats.<\/p>\n<p>Use of these devices threatens to undercut responsible and compliant operators as well as damaging the environment and public health.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">Traffic Commissioners will look to take action wherever an operator seeks an unfair and illegal advantage over the rest of industry.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) examiners found 293 lorries fitted with emissions cheat devices at roadside checks between August and November 2017.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87938"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=87938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87938\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=87938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=87938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=87938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}