Drawbar maximum to go to 38 soon?
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A MOVE to increase the maximum permitted gross weight of drawbar outfits to 38 tonnes is beginning to gather momentum, writes ALAN MILLAR.
While the prospect of any extension of the weights increase package implemented in May this year has generally been assumed to be very dead, senior Department of Transport officials have led the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders to believe that the climate may be changing.
When former Transport Secretary David Howell agreed his final weights increase package, an increase in the weight of drawbars was deleted to pacify then angry Conservative backbench MPs who were worried that heavier drawbar outfits would increase the size of lorries on the roads and would make road transport more attractive than rail for some traffic.
Now that the focus of political attention has been diverted from the heavy lorry, and the general election has passed, DTp officials have hinted that a sound seconomic case in favour of a weight increase might find Government and Parliamentary favour.
They have made clear that a general increase to 40 tonnes still has no chance of getting anywhere, but the apparent anomely of articulated but not drawbar lorries being permitted to run at a higher weight is something they think could be cleared up to the industry's satisfaction.
SMMT senior technical manager Denis Broom told CM that the SMMT is now in the early stages of assembling a case for an increase and has contacted both the Freight Transport Association and the Road Haulage Association to help make this a joint manufacturer/operator submission.
Mr Broom added that the industry would probably have to accept that a weight increase would have to be accompanied by much tighter braking standards of drawbar vehicles, as it would reassure the public that these vehicles were no less safe then existing vehicles.
Heavier drawbar vehicles are being given public support by Daf Trucks managing director, Phil Ives, who told journalists this week that there also is a strong case for increasing the axle weight limit for semitrailers from 7.5 to eight tonnes. This would make 2+3 38-tonne combinations more attractive, he said.
Labour transport spokesman Peter Snape denounced the drawbar move as "a backdoor attempt to reverse the package that was agreed when the 38tonner came in."
He said Labour would oppose it fiercely and would marshal the trades unions, environmentalists and other interested bodies against it,