38-tonners save £50m
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THE USE of 3 8-tonne vehicles in 1 9 8 4 saved operators around 5() million. a new Department of Transport report has revealed.
"[he raising of the maximum weight allowed on the road to 38 tonnes in May 195.3 meant that there were 3,0151 lesser vehicles on the road in 1984. And this is estimated to have saved operators s.,51/ million, while reducing road damage by about 2.5 per cent, the report states.
'File study, Monitoring .18 Town' Good.,[Aides, suggests that although 38-tonners represent only around three per cent of the 440,000 registered I EGV in the UK. they do much of the work.
In 1984 they carried eight per cent of the nation's freight by weight and covered 17 per cent of the total freight mileage. And for the first half of 1955 they represented five per cent of the vehicle stock. but carried out 25 per cent or the total freight mileage.
The survey — which was based On Driver and Vehicle Licensing Centre figures and the DTp's Continuing Survey of Road Goods Transport — also found that 35-tonners carried an average of 20 per cent more goods 15 per cent further than similar 32.5tonne lorries.
The Freight Transport Association has welcomed the report saying that it points not the benefits from the higher weight limit, which the industry knew to be there.
'It also shows that further progress could be made by allowing its to align with the rest of the EEC for the 40tonner,PTA legal and parliamentary affairs controller David Green told Commercial Aloror.
As we went to press the Road Haulage Association said that it had not had time to read and comment on the report.
With vehicle excise duty said to be linked to the level of wear a vehicle exerts on the road, this report will land on Transport Secretary Nicholas Ridley's desk in time for Budget requests. It says 38-totmers have reduced road damage, but the DTp cannot say if its tax rate will be altered accordingly.