ShiftZZ
LIFE MEMBER
By Adrian Darbyshire
Published on Thursday 26 April 2012 07:00
A MHK raised concerns about old motorhomes being left abandoned in residential streets for months on end – and claimed it was lucky nobody was hurt when one such vehicle actually blew up.
David Quirk (Onchan) raised the issue of motorhomes with Infrastructure Minister David Cretney MHK and asked him: ‘Would he not be concerned, as I am, with only last year in this particular area of Onchan, in Belgravia Road, where one of these motorhomes actually blew up and ripped the side out of the vehicle?
‘Lucky enough nobody was injured at the time, but it is in a park. Would the minister not look at any regulations he does have? Some of these are parked there up to six months, for three months and are just left lying there. Nobody even looks after them.
‘Can I ask the Minister, before we have a death, could we look at something there to remove these vehicles which sometimes are not taxed, and when they are found out, they are taxed? The police chase them up, but they are still left lying there.’
Mr Cretney said his department didn’t have a specific policy on old motorhomes in poor condition left around housing estates.
But he said there was clear legislation to allow for the removal of any unroadworthy or untaxed vehicles – not just motorhomes – that are left on the public highway.
Unroadworthy vehicles left on housing estates and other areas that are not adopted highway can still be removed by the abandoned vehicles officer, he added.
Mr Cretney said his department was currently considering introducing roadworthiness test checks for older vehicles, between 10 and 15 years old, which he said might help to reduce the numbers of vehicles that are not well maintained. Any proposal would be subject to consultation, he said.
The minister said his department had recently completed a consultation exercise to clarify and extend the dimensions of goods vehicles that cannot be permitted to park overnight in residential areas, and these regulations would be submitted to the June sitting of Tynwald. ‘We are on the case, we are doing what we can,’ he said.
There are 853 motorhomes taxed in the island, MHKs heard.
http://www.iomtoday.co.im/news/isle-of-man-news/exploding-motor-homes-raised-in-the-keys-1-4483560
Published on Thursday 26 April 2012 07:00
A MHK raised concerns about old motorhomes being left abandoned in residential streets for months on end – and claimed it was lucky nobody was hurt when one such vehicle actually blew up.
David Quirk (Onchan) raised the issue of motorhomes with Infrastructure Minister David Cretney MHK and asked him: ‘Would he not be concerned, as I am, with only last year in this particular area of Onchan, in Belgravia Road, where one of these motorhomes actually blew up and ripped the side out of the vehicle?
‘Lucky enough nobody was injured at the time, but it is in a park. Would the minister not look at any regulations he does have? Some of these are parked there up to six months, for three months and are just left lying there. Nobody even looks after them.
‘Can I ask the Minister, before we have a death, could we look at something there to remove these vehicles which sometimes are not taxed, and when they are found out, they are taxed? The police chase them up, but they are still left lying there.’
Mr Cretney said his department didn’t have a specific policy on old motorhomes in poor condition left around housing estates.
But he said there was clear legislation to allow for the removal of any unroadworthy or untaxed vehicles – not just motorhomes – that are left on the public highway.
Unroadworthy vehicles left on housing estates and other areas that are not adopted highway can still be removed by the abandoned vehicles officer, he added.
Mr Cretney said his department was currently considering introducing roadworthiness test checks for older vehicles, between 10 and 15 years old, which he said might help to reduce the numbers of vehicles that are not well maintained. Any proposal would be subject to consultation, he said.
The minister said his department had recently completed a consultation exercise to clarify and extend the dimensions of goods vehicles that cannot be permitted to park overnight in residential areas, and these regulations would be submitted to the June sitting of Tynwald. ‘We are on the case, we are doing what we can,’ he said.
There are 853 motorhomes taxed in the island, MHKs heard.
http://www.iomtoday.co.im/news/isle-of-man-news/exploding-motor-homes-raised-in-the-keys-1-4483560
