Weights first on DoE's Euro transport list
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by CM reporter THE VEXED QUESTION of higher axle and gross weights is top of the DoE's list of transport matters needing attention now that the EEC issue has been disposed of by the referendum.
Although a spokesman told CM that the "Yes" vote last week had no effect on policy, I understand that Department officials expect the weights issue to receive speedy attention at Ministerial level.
Because of the referendum timing, the inevitable delay in restarting negotiations on the matter and the EEC annual holidays in August it is likely to be September or October before any new transport decisions are taken in Brussels, Some DoE officials privately admit that the weights issue is holding up a host of other items. They say, however, that a dispute within the DoE is partly to blame for the delay.
Engineering staff maintain that, even accepting the AASHO fourth-power principle of calculating road surface damage by trucks, only a marginal increase in axle weights, perhaps to 10.42 tonnes (10.25 tons) or 10.67 tonnes (10.5 tons) would be necessary to achieve substantially higher gross weights.
The politicians in the Department still insist that even this slender increase could prove unacceptable because of the fierce way any proposed increases are now attacked. Both sides no doubt found the referendum a convenient way of shelving the dispute. Now it must finally be decided, though the view of other countries who have higher limits will first have to be considered.
As far as other legislation is concerned, the DoE is also staying mum about the future for tachographs. Manufacturers are convinced that the January 1, 1976 deadline for fitment to all new vehicles (and the January 1, 1978 date for existing vehicles) will remain unaltered. Smiths Industries, which plans to be producing 2,500 tachographs a week by the end of the year, reports an upsurge in demand since the referendum decision was announced. DoE officials, however, say that the Minister is still considering the implications of sticking to the EEC dates put forward by a joint union-operator delegation in January.
Bus and coach operators will face major restrictions on the seating capacities of future single-deckers with confirmation by a senior DoE man (see page 14) that the EEC—and therefore Britain—will take up the GRSA recommendations on the subject.