Dip is set for limit( lash with EC
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• The Department of Transport has confirmed that LGVs, including artics, with a gross weight over 16 tonnes and plated to tow trailers/semis over five tonnes gross weight registered after 1 January 1988 will have to have 60mph speed limiters fitted by 31 July next year.
This will leave the UK in conflict with the EC directive which requires 56mph limiters to be retrofitted to international LGVs with a gross vehicle weight of over 12 tonnes by 1 January 1995 — vehicles used on domestic journeys will follow a year later.
The DTp still intends to bring in limiters on new LGVs over 7.5 tonnes from this August: the EC wants them introduced on new vehicles over 12 tonnes from 1 January 1994.
The differences between the Government and EC regulations are likely to cause anomalies on Britain's roads. After 1995, UK trucks weighing between 7.51 and 12 tonnes will be able to travel at 60mph, while those over 12 tonnes will be restricted to 56mph.
It is not clear if trucks retrofitted with 60mph limiters in the UK from next year will need to have their limiters reset to the lower speed when the EC law comes into force in 1995.
The Government says it has arrived at its decision following consultation with the trade associations.
El Lifetime 0-licences could be introduced as early as next year if the Government is re-elected. The Conservatives want to bring in the change as part of a Transport Bill which would also include the deregulation of London's
buses. Deregulation of the capital's bus network is due to take effect by spring 1994, which will mean legislation would probably need to be put before Parliament within a year of the election, should the Tories win.
It is believed that the Government intends to replace fiveyear HGV and PCV 0-licences in the same move — it has long said that it will introduce continuous licences as soon as Parliamentary time becomes available. Bringing in the two pieces of legislation at the same time would cut administrative costs.
Proposals for continuous licensing are still awaiting a "suitable opportunity" to become legislation, says the Government, but they will not be included with bus deregulation.
However, according to senior LA Air-Vice Marshall Ronald Ashford, the Department of Transport is making contingency plans to bring in continuous licensing for PCV operators in the same bill as London deregulation. If this happens, it would make sense to introduce lifetime goods licences at the same time. Labour, currently running neck-and-neck with the Conservatives, has pledged to scrap plans for London bus deregulation.