by David Harris • Proposals to confine heavy lorries to
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motorways and develop greener lorries for the rest of the road network have been dismissed as nonsense by the haulage industry.
The latest report from the environmental group the Civic Trust, A New Framework for Freight Transport, argues that the heaviest goods vehicles are out of place on urban and most country roads.
It claims: "They should be confined to a network of motorway and near-motorway standard trunk roads. Goods would be transferred to a new type of environmentally friendly vehicle at trans-shipment depots strategically located up and down the country."
The Freight Transport Association dismisses the whole idea.
A spokesman says: "The report sadly fails to address the current freight scene and merely repeats hackneyed prejudices ignoring the results of previous research.
"The report's call for a return to area or townbased distribution for freight is simply misconceived, says the FTA. "If, as the report claims, this would make it possible to reduce both costs to operators and costs to society the freight industry would have done it years ago."
The Civic Trust report also suggests that better enforced rules for lorry operators would create a "massive revival" of rail freight. The FTA remains scathing.
"Any revival of rail freight will depend not on regulating or pricing longdistance trucking out of existence but by rail freight providing industry with the levels of service and reliability essential to satisfy customer demand," it warns.