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Heavy truck crackdown

17th August 2006, Page 13
17th August 2006
Page 13
Page 13, 17th August 2006 — Heavy truck crackdown
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SUFFOLK COUNTY COUNCIL has released figures showing that at least 100 LGVs were caught illegally using weight-restricted roads in less than three months.

A council spokesman Adam Barnes says that operators transporting building products have traditionally been blamed for breaching the weight restrictions, potentially earning them a fine of up to 25,000.

He adds: "Scaffolding transporters are historically to blame because [scaffolding] is very heavy.

Now people in small villages are having articulated trucks thundering past their front doors. Its about quality of life and road safety. People take short cuts I. that they shouldn't and carry excess loads."

Gloucestershire County Council is moving to severely restrict trucks carrying heavy loads on 23% of the roads it controls and has introduce night-time truck bans.

Stephen Kelly, head of policy for the Midlands at the Freight Transport Association, says other authorities will watch the council closely once it brings in the new rules: "The thinking behind it is public pressure more than anything. It's a well known fact that no one wants a truck travelling outside their house, but everyone wants what's on the back of a truck... elected officials seethe rules as vote winners."

• A driver has been fined £640 for taking his truck across the historic Bondgate Bridge in Ripon, NorthYorkshire, in breach of its 7.5-tonne restriction.


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