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Labour policies unveiled
Page 12
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• Fifty-tonne trucks on special lorry-only highways could be introduced under Labour, says shadow transport secretary John Prescott.
Speaking at Freight '89 in Torquay last week, Prescott said that as a condition of their operator's licence, hauliers might be forced to put a percentage of their freight on rail, or prove to new regional transport authorities that a journey by road was necessary.
Prescott, who presents his transport proposals to the Labour party conference next month, said 50mph (801cm/h) speed limits at rush hours might be a way of easing congestion on motorways. Labour would consider confining big trucks to motorways and major trunk roads, linked to freight distribution centres.
Prescott said a Labour government would intervene to increase BR's share of the market from its present 7%. A dedicated freight route to the Channel Tunnel, avoiding London, would also be built. LI Longer artics will be allowed on Britain's roads from January, Roads and Traffic Minister Robert Atkins confirmed at Freight '89. The Government will bring forward the 1 January 1991 date for permitting 16.5m combinations. The limit was set by the EC council of ministers in June.
Atkins said Britain had been against the council's move, but the need for British industry to compete in Europe made it necessary to bring the date forward a year.
Delegates had been expecting the announcement, but the minister's rumoured move caught at least one trailer manufacturer on the hop. Crane Fruehauf had been exhibiting a trailer which, it said, customers could convert to the longer length overnight.
The manufacturer will continue to market the design, however, a spokesman said. Hauliers with three-axle tractive units could run it at its shorter length until they bought a smaller unit, when the trailer could be extended. El A wider range of quieter, cleaner LCVs, better-looking and easier to drive: this is what Europe's van manufacturers will have to come up with in the 1990s as green pressures grow anti customers demand more comfort and flexibility, said Leyland Daf Vans chief engineer Tim Martin. 0 Tanker operators working for ICI will have to hold the quality standard BS5750 by the end of next year, its distribution director for the NorthEast, Alan Halfpenny, said. 0 A safe driving course for transport companies was launched at Freight '89 by the Freight Transport Association and the Road Transport Industry Training Board.
The three-hour course covers condition of the vehicle, driver awareness, effects of alcohol and motorway driving, and will cost from £395 (exVAT) for 12 people.