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• The British Government's rejection out-of-hand of the European proposal for longer lorries was right — but for the wrong reasons, taken at the wrong time, and done in a manner which can only harm the UK haulage industry in the long term.
The proposal to allow longer lorries stems largely from the desire of some Europeans to outlaw the ultra-short cab — a feature of modern truck design which has fortunately found little favour in Britain. Rather than do the obvious — which is to set a minimum legal cab depth within the existing 15.5m overall length, these Europeans want to increase overall permissible vehicle lengths by one metre. Their hope is that at least some of this extra length would benefit the driver rather than extend the payload.
Such a hope is transparently silly, and the British government is right to treat it as such, just as it is right to resist any attempt to increase vehicle lengths. The existing 15.5m length represents a practical compromise, giving a vehicle which is both long enough to be productive and efficient, and short enough to be environmentally acceptable to all but the most intolerant of the lorry haters.
The Government was wrong only in the manner and timing of its rejections. This de-Gaulle-like "Non" gut-reaction sets Britain at odds yet again with its European partners, branding us as the country for which "co-operation" is an empty word, not a solid deed. It identifies Britain once more as a country not willing to discuss matters and win others round by persuasion. The reaction singles Britain out yet again as a country undeserving of any future "concessions" such as allowing British and Irish hauliers to run uncompetitive 38-tonners.
By rejecting this proposal now, before it has been discussed fully in Europe, the UK has taken the risk that the Europeans will make the move anyway, without our help and will, in the longer run, impose the 16.5m lorry on Britain's roads in any event.
This move is yet another example of the present British Government's apparent inability to grasp the fact that being "right" all the time signifies nothing. The realistic aim is to persuade others that you are right. If ill-advised, ill-prepared Britain is going to survive the shake-up of 1992, the country is going to need a lot of friends amongst the 11 nations with whom we are seldom in step.
Being right for the wrong reasons at the wrong time, in practical terms, is the same as being wrong. The pity of it is, that the individual who ends up being wronged by it all is, yet again, the British lorry operator.