VOSA, the agency in charge of safety testing for lorries, buses and coaches, should be given additional powers and resources to get dangerous vehicles and drivers off the roads, according to a new report from the Transport Select Committee.

Unsafe vehicles - often foreign registered - cost lives, said the MPs and VOSA must have access to ports to prevent dangerous vehicles from entering the country.

Licensing rules for buses and coaches should also be tightened, says the latest report.

The report also calls for VOSA to be given IT systems and better information sharing arrangements with other agencies, such as HRMC.

"More must be done to ensure compliance with our safety standards for lorries, buses and coaches.

"VOSA is recognised as a model of best practice and a leader within Europe but it lacks sufficient access to our ports to inspect vehicles and drivers effectively,” said committee chairman Louise Ellman.

"The work of VOSA is also hampered by some of the data sharing regulations.

"It is clear that with many unsafe foreign registered lorries and drivers entering the UK, it is crucial that VOSA can share information with colleagues in other European countries to bring cowboy operators to book.

“Better arrangements are needed so that the tracking methods used so effectively to nail non-compliant British vehicles can be employed to target foreign registered lorries and coaches also.”

The Road Haulage Association welcomed the report, which it said “thoughtfully addresses a number of important issues”.

“Enforcement against foreign trucks is highlighted as a key issue.

"Foreign trucks are eight times more likely to be involved in a killed or serious injury accident and three times more likely to be breaking haulage rules,” said RHA director of policy Jack Semple.

“The committee is right to welcome progress and to urge that this effort is further intensified.”

The Freight Transport Association also added its praise for the report.

“Seeing obviously unsafe overseas trucks being driven erratically by over-tired drivers is enough to give the logistics sector a bad name, despite the fact that the UK fleet is recognised as the safest in Europe,” said the FTA’s Jo Tanner.

“VOSA’s detection rates are good, but how are these vehicles able to make it so far from their home nation unchallenged?

"The Select Committee is absolutely right in encouraging greater collaboration and information-sharing between agencies, not only on this side of the Channel, but on the continent too.”