West Midlands Police鈥檚 approach to abnormal load movements has broken away from how national rules are applied elsewhere in the UK, driving up costs and risking delays to HS2 and other major projects, the 萝莉原创 Plant-hire Association (CPA) says.
聽The CPA represents more than 2,000 plant-hire and heavy haulage firms supplying the cranes, piling rigs, rail maintenance vehicles and specialist machinery underpinning major construction, transport and infrastructure schemes across the country.
Under national rules, companies moving abnormal loads are required to notify the police in advance 鈥� not seek permission. The system is designed to allow police to manage safety and traffic disruption, not to approve or block compliant movements. For more than two decades, most abnormal loads have been safely self-escorted by trained operators, with police escorts used only where there is a clear and exceptional risk.
聽The CPA says the national approach was reaffirmed in updated guidance from the National Police Chiefs鈥� Council (NPCC), developed with police forces and industry to ensure consistency and proportionality in the handling of abnormal loads after concerns about growing regional discrepancies.
Most police forces across the UK have got back into line with established practices but West Midlands Police remains a national outlier, the CPA said. To support its campaign against apparently random and over-zealous policing of the movement of abnormal loads in the West Midlands, the CPA conducted a survey of members
Members reported notifications being treated as if they require approval, with additional technical information being demanded despite no change in national policy. Operators have been forced to use police escorts where, under normal circumstances and in other areas, self-escorting would be perfectly acceptable.
More than 80% of respondents said the actions of West Midlands Police had disrupted their operations, and mor e than two-thirds reported serious project delays as a result of rejected or delayed abnormal load notifications.
Around three-quarters said that they had rerouted loads, taken detours or avoided operating within the West Midlands Police area altogether.
One in six reported additional costs exceeding 拢100,000, with many others citing costs in the 拢10,000 to 拢50,000 range.
Respondents also provided multiple examples of abnormal load notifications that had previously been accepted under the former approach but were later rejected following changes to load description requirements, despite no change in national legislation.
Freedom of Information disclosures have revealed that over a five-year period, West Midlands Police increased its income from abnormal load escorting from around 拢15,000 a year to approximately 拢1.1m.
CPA chief executive Steve Mulholland said: 鈥淭his isn鈥檛 about safety 鈥� it鈥檚 about misinterpretation and incentives that are putting HS2 and major infrastructure projects at risk. NPCC guidance was designed to bring national consistency to how abnormal loads are handled, and industry engaged with it in good faith. But if individual forces choose not to follow it, the system stops working.
鈥淲hen notifications are treated as approvals and operators are pushed towards unnecessary police escorts, it drives up costs, delays projects and drains confidence from infrastructure delivery.
鈥淵ou simply cannot deliver HS2 or major rail and construction projects if the machinery needed to build them is held up by regional policy drift.
鈥淲e need an urgent return to a single, nationally consistent interpretation of the rules, so compliant movements are treated the same way in every part of the country.鈥�
Concerns over West Midlands Police鈥檚 approach have also been raised repeatedly in Parliament. In the House of Lords in January, Earl Attlee told peers that he had witnessed officers harassing the drivers and crew of what he described as 鈥渙ne of the most professional heavy haulage companies in the land鈥�. He said that the tactics employed by West Midlands Police resemble those he would 鈥渆xpect to see used by a corrupt police force in a slowly developing country鈥�.
CPA members say the issue is escalating. Firms operating in the West Midlands have reported sudden changes to the information demanded in abnormal load notifications, with movements rejected despite complying with national rules.
聽The CPA warns that ongoing policy divergence risks undermining confidence and investment across the construction and transport supply chain, putting HS2 and other major infrastructure projects at risk, and is calling on the Department for Transport to restore a nationally consistent approach.
聽West Midlands Police has been asked to comment.