The dropped para
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'WHY DID Transport Secretary David Howell drop the paragraph referring to 38 tonnes from his speech at Brighton last Friday?
Apparently the reason is that "Parliament likes to hear things first" according to his Under Secretary Mrs Lynda Chalker.
Surely then it was rather strange that she should encourage RHA members at Torquay to think that within a few weeks we will be hearing of his plan to increase lorry weights, even to 40 tonnes?
The industry, however, should not expect this to happen overnight. Whatever amendments are made to Construction and Use Regulations will take some time to implement and before we have increased weights we can look for increased taxation, an acceleration in the by-pass construction programme, spray screens and a reduction in noise levels.
It is a pity that the Minister did not spell out the programme last Friday.
What Mr Howell did last Friday on Radio 4 must have been something of an embarrassment to his permanent staff. He .spoke of "heavy vehicles crashing through villages".
In his next sentence he said that he would, for the first time, introduce length restrictions on lorries. Presumably, he meant trailers.
We invite the Minister to study C & U Regulations on lorry lengths, at the same time we hope he will invite us to accompany him to these villages where "heavy lorries are crashing through". All told, last Friday was not a good day for David Howell. ' Hopefully he will make amends in the next few weeks.