The House of Commons in the UK has asked the government to give extra powers and resources to safety checks agencies in order to prevent unsafe foreign vehicles from entering the country.

The call follows the House’s recent investigation into the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) that found 47% of foreign vehicles to have dangerous defects as opposed to 37.5% UK vehicles.

The country attributes 80% of all its heavy goods traffic to foreign-registered vehicles.

The report found that heavy goods vehicles registered in the Czech Republic are the worst offenders with a 60% roadworthiness failure rate between 2007-2008.

This is followed by Polish and Hungarian vehicles failing 50% of safety checks and German and Italian lorries recording safety failures in 40% of cases.

The report highlighted the safety agency’s lack of access to ports for inspections before trucks enter UK roads as a major concern.

Another concern is the lack of information sharing with agencies in UK and EU.

Tightening of licensing rules for buses and coaches has also been called for.