Weights move 'in weeks'
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PROPOSALS for the heavier lorry will be put before Parliament within a "couple of weeks", Transport Secretary David Howell said on Monday.
Speaking at Sainsbury's distribution depot at Basingstoke in Hampshire, Mr Howell outlined his "three pronged attack" on the lorry problem — vehicle height and compulsory sideguards; continued building of bypasses; and a concentrated enforcement of existing laws that has already started, eventually giving relief to 220 communities.
If the proposals go through Parliament, the heavier lorries should start to appear by autumn, Mr Howell said, and added: "We are going further than the Armitage proposals as we are increasing the number of better roads."
Len Payne, Sainsbury's distribution director, gave Mr Howell a guided tour of the depot, and outlined the advantages to be gained from employing 38tonne lorries.
Using the Road Haulage Association's COMPACT exhibition vehicle as an example, Mr Payne explained how a moving floor would be used to take two levels of pallets.
Nine pallets would be placed at the cab end of the trailer on a raised level, then small 4ft pallets would be loaded on to the low floor and secured, and the whole floor would be raised by hydraulic lift. Further pallets could then be loaded on to the trailer on the bottom level.
The 38-tonne vehicle would provide space for 18 pallets, giving a payload of 24 tonnes, compared with the present 14 pallets, which achieve an 18 tonne payload.
"The products that are moved from this depot every week would be better catered for with this new lorry," Mr Payne added.