COMNIENT
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MAKING ROOM FOR TRUCKS
So the upgrading of the Al 3 Thames Gateway is likely to include a number of lorry and busonly routes as part of a Government plan to curb car traffic (see news story, page 8). About time, too. For years, the authorities have recognised the need to give buses their own lanes on Britain's major urban routes; now, it seems, there may at last be growing recognition that freight movements are the life-blood of our economy. The key to this proposal, as with so many other changes being discussed, will be selling the idea to car drivers who account for so many more votes than the haulage sector. But with the right approach, this shouldn't be too hard: the quicker a goods vehicle gets to its destination, after all, the less it will get in the way of other traffic. Anything that helps curb car traffic is obviously a welcome move for the distribution industry: it would be nice to think the forthcoming White Paper on transport will contain more of the same. Are you listening, Mr Strang?
• Britain's failure to fall in with its European partners and introduce a registration scheme for trailers recently resulted in a nine-hour delay for one haulier trying to get into Germany. Last week, out of the blue, the Government proposed to start charging operators 225 to register each new vehicle (CM 22-28 Jan). Meanwhile the continued lack of an official registration system for trailers has caused problems for many an honest operator moving around Europe. The fact that the VI will generate trailer ownership forms upon request (it accepts that this problem is common across Europe) only underlines the need for a trailer registration scheme to be launched immediately. Even if it costs another 225, that must be better than a nine-hour delay at every border crossing.