HUNDREDS of farmers and hauliers have been flouting regulations designed to stop a repeat of the foot-and-mouth epidemic, health experts said yesterday.
Routine checks on visitors to one of three slaughterhouses revealed that 60 per cent breached rules requiring them to confirm when and where their vehicle was last disinfected, Birmingham City Council said.
Another 100 farmers failed to provide ear tags for sheep or to date and sign forms relating to the movement of their animals.
During the two-month programme of spot checks, the authority found 120 out of 198 people using the slaughterhouse had breached livestock regulations.
Graham Taylor, the city council's animal welfare officer, said: "We will now move back into more pro-active mode and carry out enforcement on vehicles at slaughterhouses because we can't trust the industry to comply with the law."
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