Trailer lawbreakers told: stay out of UK
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by Amanda Bradbury • The Department of Transport has issued a warning to foreign operators: if you bring in over-length or over-width swap bodies or trailers, you will be ordered out of the country.
Officials are angry that some continental operators, whose own governments allow dimension tolerances of up to 2%, have an unfair competitive advantage over UK hauliers. Unlike most continental hauliers, UK operators are forced to comply rigidly with EU dimension rules.
Just 1% added to the maximum permitted length of a trailer of 13.6m under EU directive 83/5 would allow the continental operator to fit two more 800x1,200mm Europallets on the vehicle, says the DOT.
UK reefer association Transfrigoroute has written to Transport Secretary John MacGregor about continental dimension tolerances imposing a "competitive disadvantage" on UK reefer operators. And Railfreight Distribution estimates it will not be able to carry 5% of continental road-rail traffic because of oversized containers. European Commission officials say they are concerned at the implications of the UK's warning. A spokesman says Brussels will sound out German officials next week about speeding up the passage of EU harmonisation of length height and width limits.
This could be achieved by handling these limits separately from the Commission's plan to increase weight to 44 tonnes on six axles with air suspension. The weight proposal is now deadlocked in the European Parliament.
EU countries allowing dimension tolerances include France, Italy, Holland and Germany.
Germany allows a 1% tolerance on all trailer widths and ignores fridge units when calculating reefer trailer turning clearances, resulting in over-length vehicles.
The Dutch allow a 1% tolerance on either trailer length or swing clearance. But a spokesman for the Dutch Transport Ministry dismisses the charge that its industry has an unfair advantage over British hauliers. "The police and the Government have to be realistic when they see that a trailer is overlength by a matter of centimetres...what can we do?"