Bans could raise
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transport costs
TRANSPORT costs could rise by up to Ell per ton if heavy goods vehicles are banned from town centres.
These are the conclusions of J. A. Battilana and I. H. Hawthorne of the Transport and Road Research Laboratory, based on information collected in a survey of goods movements in the Swindon area.
If such restrictions were imposed it is envisaged that all goods, other than those with a high security risk, or of a bulky or dangerous nature, would have to be transferred to smaller vehicles at a depot situated on the outskirts of the town.
The cost of a depot to serve a town the size of Swindon would be about £500,000 each year.
Based on the estimated tonnage involved, this represents an increase of £9 per ton to which another £2 per ton would have to be added to cover loss and damage to the goods during their transfer.
The report concludes that if the concept of keeping the centres of all towns free from the intrusion of the heavy goods vehicle were to be enforced, most companies involved with local delivery would find it cheaper to change their existing fleet to vehicles of under 3 tons unladen weight.