EEC considers 11 tons
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• At the opening of the two-day meeting of the Council of EEC Ministers held in Brussels on Wednesday and Thursday the Council went into closed session to discuss transport policy, particularly axle weights, gross weights and dimensions of goods vehicles.
To meet the vexed question of maximum axle weight the Council's president, Marcel Mart, put forward a compromise proposal to set the axle weight limit at 11 tons, with a longer transition period to allow the Member States to reach that norm.
Britain's opposition to any increase of its present 10-ton maximum after it has entered the Community was expressed by Mr John Peyton, Minister for Transport Industries, on the previous day when speaking to press representatives in Brussels.
Mr Peyton said that additional loadings would lead to unacceptable extra expenditure on road and bridge strengthening and maintenance.
That Mr Peyton favours the introduction of the British 0-licensing system is suggested by his statement that the free play of market forces should be the chief factor in establishing future European transport policies and that access to the Community transport market should be as free as possible once essential safety requirements had been assured.
The Minister said he was firmly opposed to quotas, especially bilateral quotas which he saw as "a screen for inefficiency." He was also against central licensing systems and excessive bureaucratic controls.
Large lorries, he insisted, should not be allowed on Europe's narrow streets and country roads. He hoped the Common Market Commission and Member States would "actively engage themselves in bringing noise and pollution under control".