Ban? It works on the Continent...
Page 14
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I HAD TO smile at the perceived outrage over the suggestion of a Sunday ban for general haulage vehicles in the UK.
This is a ban that is widespread in mainland Europe (France, Germany, Spain etc), not just on a Sunday but on Bank Holidays too. This leads to wagons over 7.5 tonnes GVW parked up for 48 or even 72 hours sometimes – but there are exceptions for perishable foodstuffs or seasonable crops.
Mind you, I did get lots of work delivering urgent consignments for early on Monday morning all over Europe on my 3.5-tonner over weekends and Bank Holidays.
A Sunday lorry ban, like so many other changes (carbon copy log books, MoT tests, tachographs, WTD, Driver CPC, longer semitrailers) would be seen as the end of the world until everyone got used to it.
DS Boyes Bramley, Leeds (retired, thank goodness)
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