Copper wants HGV day ban
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by David Craik • Hauliers have reacted with anger and bemusement to a statement by a police officer on prime-time TV that for safety reasons liGVs should only travel on British roads at night.
PC Mike Doyle, a senior accident investigator with West Midlands Police, was speaking on Pile Up, a BI3C investigation into the major M42 crash in March last year, which was broadcast on 10 March.
Malcolm Evans, of Birmingham-based haulier JD Rose & Son, says the idea is "bizarre", adding that it would be impossible to administer and that most accidents result from poor driving by private motorists.
Ian Jordan, director of 111 Jordan of Macclesfield, suggests the officer should "consider getting himself another job". Jordan says his company, which delivers bricks to building sites, would not be able to operate at night. "We can only load during the day," he says. "How can hauliers deliver to companies which do not work night shifts? Who do we deliver to?"
East Kilbride owner-driver Billy Smith also worries about the effect night-only running would have on loading and deliveries, and describes the officer's comment as "over the top". He adds: "If there were masses of lorries on the road at night then the public would just complain about that as well."
Drivers working at night would also he looking for extra wages, says Smith. This, with rates as low as they are now, would mean hauliers would not make any profits at all.
The Road Haulage and Freight Transport associations have both written to the BBC complaining that the programme gave misleading figures about the level of accidents involving trucks.