Better deal on weights
Page 10
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/ The Department of Transport has relaxed the conditions under which "road-friendly" six and eight-wheelers may run at higher weights.
Hauliers operating six-wheelers with road-friendly suspension will now be able to gross 25 tonnes on a 4.9m outer axle spread, instead of the 5m proposed in March. This follows lobbying by the industry because many six-wheelers fall short of the original 5m minimum by only a few millimetres.
In the case of eight-leggers with road-friendly suspension, fixed outer axle spread measure ments will be dropped and replaced with the EC-derived requirement that the vehicle's gross weight does not exceed five tonnes per metre of axle spread. This means a truck with, say, a 6.3m spread would be allowed to gross up to 31.5 tonnes.
Regulations on the proposed weight increases are expected to be made before Parliament's summer recess.
0 Plans for trucks over 3m high to have in-cab height warning notices have been put on ice following objections by the European Commission.
The Commission maintains that the plans, announced by the DOT in January, would infringe an EC directive which states that vehicles on international journeys cannot be excluded unless they are more than 4m high. Putting restrictions on trucks over 3m high would interfere with freedom of movement, it says.