Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many investigations have been made into potential breaches of cabotage rules by EU hauliers in each of the last five years for which data is available; and what proportion of those investigations resulted in successful prosecutions.

In each of the last five business years, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) conducted the following number of investigations into potential breaches of cabotage rules:

2011/12 – 57,616

2012/13 – 44,340

2013/14 – 40,289

2014/15 – 46,466

2015/16 – 52,499

DVSA does not prosecute foreign drivers for cabotage offences; instead it issues cabotage notices. In each of the last five business years, DVSA recorded the following number of cabotage notices:

2011/12 – 370

2012/13 – 297

2013/14 – 257

2014/15 – 375

2015/16 – 484