Big noise on ban
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• Several big names are among 15 haulage companies who will begin appeals this month against controversial London lorry ban rules which say they must fit air brake silencers to their Leyland Daf trucks.
The firms, including Wincanton, Tibbett and Britten and Christian Salvesen, have been told they must modify the Leyland Dafs with the manufacturer's approved devices if they are to be given permits to drive in the capital.
The appeals will be heard by a special board which includes nominees of the Freight Transport Association, Road Haulage Association, unions and London authorities. They will be heard in public at London's County Hall from 31 August. Although the ban's overseer, the London Boroughs Transport Committee, does not have to abide by the appeals board's decision, it is thought that it will do so.
Leyland Daf offers the brake silencers as an option to customers although it does not fit them on-line. Silencers are, however, fitted as standard on all new MAN F90 and Scania GRP trucks, while they are optional on Volvo and ERF models. The devices are one of a series of measures introduced by the LBTC in an attempt to hush vehicles Oven a permit to use London, but the FTA says the condition is "unlawful" because it attempts to ban lorries, which otherwise meet Europe-wide Construction and Use standards, from a major city.