Truck ban hits ARC'S fuel bill
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by Ian Wylie • Aggregates supplier ARC Central warns that its owner-drivers could face soaring fuel bills if Leicestershire County Council goes through with plans to ban LGVs from many of the county's B-roads.
From April, ARC drivers travelling west from the quarry at Whitwick in north-west Leicestershire will be forced to add 191cm (12 miles) to their round trip when the council places truck controls on the link road from Whitwick to the A50 (Coalville bypass).
ARC has had two appeals rejected by the council's highways committee. It says the truck bans will soak up an extra 11,000 gallons of diesel a year. The company has yet to decide if it will absorb the extra costs or pass it on to the quarry's 40 owner-drivers. It expects another blow in the summer when the council advertises restrictions on roads around Charnwood Forest where ARC has another quarry. The truck bans are part of a five-year programme to direct heavy traffic on to primary routes by declassifying many B-roads which run through residential areas.
Mike Bradford, assistant engineer to the council's road safety department, says the link road from Whitwick to the A50 passes three schools and a hospital. "The council incurs heavy maintenance costs for B-roads used by LGVs," he says, "and hauliers will benefit if we are able to concentrate more resources on primary routes."
The FTA has accused the council of transferring its costs on to industry.