Thousands more foreign lorries will be attracted to Britain's roads by a European plan to give them freedom to compete with domestic hauliers.

Supermarket chains that use British lorries to transport goods between depots and stores are among the businesses that will be able to cut costs by using foreign companies.

Foreign lorries are three times more likely per mile travelled to be in a collision than British lorries, according to an insurance industry study.

Lorries from several countries, including Romania, Greece, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, are twice as likely as British lorries to fail vehicle safety inspections.

Greek drivers are almost four times as likely to breach safety limits on the number of hours driven without a break, according to the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (Vosa). German, Italian, Austrian and Turkish drivers are twice as likely to breach the limits.

There are 15,000 foreign lorries on British roads on a typical day. Crashes involving foreign lorries resulted in 44 deaths and 1,366 injuries in 2006.

Under the European plan, foreign lorries bringing goods across the Channel would be allowed to carry out an additional three haulage trips within Britain in the seven days after dropping off their original loads. They would be able to sign contracts for regular work with British companies. At present, they can carry out only “ad hoc” work.

The European proposal, which won the support of European transport ministers on Monday and is likely to be formally approved in June, is designed to “increase competitiveness and contribute to environmental goals by avoiding empty journeys”. But the Freight Transport Association (FTA) said that it would result in an increase in the number of unsafe lorries.

Operating costs for foreign haulage companies are about 30 per cent less than for British companies because diesel on the continent is on average 25p a litre cheaper and Eastern European drivers can be employed on much lower wages. Each foreign lorry can carry up to 1,500 litres (330 gallons) of fuel into Britain in extra tanks - enough for more than 2,500 miles (4,023km).

Simon Chapman, the FTA's chief economist, said: “Foreign lorries will be able to use these new rules to carry out supermarket deliveries to local towns. It will mean a lot more foreign lorry trips on our roads even though they pose more risk to other drivers.”

The FTA said that it was disappointed that the Government had dropped a proposal to create a database of foreign lorries entering Britain. This would have made it easier to trace them if they breached rules and to monitor time spent in the country.

The Government has also abandoned a proposal to require foreign lorries to contribute £7 a day towards the cost of maintaining British roads. British lorries already pay this amount to drive on roads in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.

An FTA spokesman said: “Foreign lorries working in the UK pay no UK taxes, make no contribution to the road wear which they create, and pay nothing at all for working in the UK. By contrast, the UK international fleet in Europe buys its fuel overseas and pays local road tolls and taxes.”

A spokesman from the Department for Transport said that the Government was in favour of allowing foreign lorries to carry out domestic haulage because it resulted in greater efficiency, but was opposed to “regular contract working”. The DfT announced this week an additional £24 million over three years to fund a 50 per cent increase in the number of checks on foreign lorries.

A Polish lorry driver was doing less than 20mph on a motorway when a breakdown truck crashed into the back of him. Six people were killed. Jerzy Adamski, 50, was in breach of EU law by failing to take sufficient rest. The Surrey coroner, in a narrative verdict, said that it could not be proved that he was suffering fatigue.

No truck

65% of Romanian lorries are found to be breaking the roadworthy rules (as are more than 50% of Austrian, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Latvian, Polish, Lithuanian, Portuguese, Slovakian and Slovenian)

37% of French and Portuguese vehicles are overloaded

51% of Greek drivers have broken rules on hours

Source: vosa.gov.uk (targeted enforcement checks, Jan-Dec 2007)

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