Transport red-tape

• Up to 17,000 British haulage firms could go bust because Brussels bureaucrats will allow continental hauliers to steal their business. This is untrue. EU agreements on haulage firm permits, for which successive UK governments have fought hard, does not just mean that foreign companies will be allowed to operate in Britain, but also that British firms will be allowed to operate on the continent.

• Ferries will no longer be able to take doctors to remote Scottish islands to deal with emergencies in the middle of the night because of European Union working time laws. This is untrue. The Working Time Directive excludes several sectors of activity, among them sea transport.

• British lollipop ladies are having to bow to Brussels' relentless drive for harmonisation by getting new harmonised sign designs.This is untrue. 'Brussels' has no plan to "impose" such an idea.

• Brussels bureaucrats are blocking bespectacled lorry drivers under rules forcing HGV drivers to pass their eye tests without the aid of glasses and banning them from wearing their glasses whilst driving in case they fall off during a journey or accident. This is untrue. EU agreements do not forbid long or shortsighted drivers from driving with glasses or contact lenses.

• Brussels blocking British ban on bull bars.This is untrue. There are no EU regulations precluding such action by the British Government

• EU rules for bus drivers mean that passengers have to get off their bus halfway through their journey.This is untrue. There are no EU rules saying how long a bus route may be. If a bus operator, as has happened, has decided that passengers should have to get off the bus halfway through the journey, it is because the bus operator wants drivers to work more than a 9-hour shift, potentially jeopardising safety.

• Britain's double-decker buses to be banned.This is untrue. There are no moves to outlaw the traditional red double-decker bus. Any new EU agreements mean that buses should become safer to ride in throughout the EU and will apply only to new buses and coaches and not to existing ones.

• Ten million Vespa scooters may be forced off Italy's roads by a new EU law compelling them to be fitted with catalytic converters. This is untrue. Any proposed ban by the Italian government on motorcycles and scooters from Italian city centres is entirely the responsibility of the sovereign Italian government, not the EU.

• Britain may have to water down MOTs on cars in order to comply with a Directive from Brussels harmonising Britain's MOT tests. This would result in tests not starting until cars are four years old, unlike the three year limit in the UK; thereafter they would need be tested only at two year intervals, as opposed to the UK's compulsory annual test. This is untrue. The European Commission has no intention of proposing any such rules.

• A new EU directive makes it illegal for children of school age to deliver milk from vehicles.This is untrue. Any decision to ban children of school age from delivering milk from vehicles would be a decision of the UK government and not the EU.

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