Logistics firm Fagan & Whalley is warning hauliers to check the rules when delivering to industrial parks after incurring around £7,500 of trespass charges accumulated by the company’s trucks stopping - in some cases for less than a minute – at Ransomes EuroPark in Ipswich, whilst delivering to clients.
Fagan & Whalley questions the safety of the park’s traffic management system, operated by Proserve Enforcement Solutions, which deems that stopping for any length of time constitutes a trespass, triggering a £250 charge.
Fagan and Whalley head of compliance, Martyn Richardson, said: “This removes the option for the driver, for example, to ask for the banksman, to call the security intercom, to undertake a safety observation on foot before commencing into the yard either forward or in reverse.
He added: “Since then, we have taken the decision to significantly reduce the amount of work we do on this estate.”
In 2013 Hythe-based B E Hamblion lost its legal battle over refusing to pay £900 in charges made when its trucks were stopped at Ransomes EuroPark.
Despite being backed by the RHA, the judge ruled in favour of Ransomes Park Limited, deeming the charges as enforceable and not excessive.
Hamblion boss Kevin Read told Motor Transport he continues to deliver to clients on the estate and that his trucks are still receiving charges for brief stops.
Proserve owner Stephen Duff refuted claims that the charges are unreasonable. He defended the policy of allowing no stops, no matter how short.
Duff said: “The aim of the enforcement procedures is to maintain clear roadways and protect motorists and pedestrians from obstruction and danger. Simply moving people on would not work, It would make the whole system unworkable. Speaking to all drivers asking them to move on is not an option.
“What, in effect, would happen is all drivers would all wait until they were spoken to and the whole aim is to keep the site clear, and this would simply compound the issue.
He claimed that Fagan & Whaley drivers are “persistent trespassers”, adding: “They are fully aware of the estates rules and regulations nevertheless they continue to ignore them.”
Nigel Robson, a director at Ransome Park Limited, told MT that Fagan and Whalley had accrued a number of charges which he claimed included parking at bus stops and on the wrong side of the road. He added: “They are persistent trespassers who abused the rules.”
Asked if he was happy with the way Proserve carried out its duties at Ransomes Europark, Robson said: “We have been working with Proserve for ten years and we have never found that they do anything other than operate as we ask them to.”
Duncan Buchanan, RHA policy director, said: “There is a problem with the law that allows this sort of traffic management enforcement to happen. MPs need to step up and play a role in stopping this.”
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