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Face to face with the civilised lorry

6th March 1982, Page 3
6th March 1982
Page 3
Page 3, 6th March 1982 — Face to face with the civilised lorry
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

TRANSPORT Secretary David Howell came face to face last week with the quieter and safer lorries which he hopes will persuade his back bench colleagues to accept an increase in gross weights. ALAN MILLAR and MIKE RUTHERFORD report.

He braved heavy rain at the Transport and Road Research Laboratory last Friday, and inspected the Foden/Rolls Royce Quiet Heavy Vehicle which has returned to TRRL after two years' trials with Oxfordshire haulier F. C. Bennett.

The QHV is capable of operating at 80dB(A), a standard which the Government wants to introduce as mandatory from around 1990. An 88dB(A) standard will apply to over-12-tonne vehicles built after April 1 next year, and used after October 1 next year.

Mr Howell was also shown a display of trailers fitted with optional versions of sideguards, as proposed for over 32.5 tanners from October 1 this year, with examples ranging from gatetype guards to a totally filled-in version.

And he experienced the full benefits of rear under-run bumpers when a car in which he was a passenger was driven into the back of a trailer fitted with a Quinton Hazen hydraulic underrun bumper. Rear under-run pro tection also becomes mandatory this year.

He came away unscathed from that encounter, which is more than can be said for his dealings with back bench opponents on his own side of the Commons.

Clearly, considerable horsetrading has taken place since the White Paper on lorries, people, and the environment was published last December, and few will now be surprised if the proposed 34 and 40-tonne lorries have disappeared by the time Mr Howell's final proposals are revealed towards the end of this month.

The death last weekend of Beaconsfield Conservative MP Sir Ronald Bell, proposer of an uncompromisingly anti-weights increase early day motion (CM,. January 301, may have improved Mr Howell's chances by a fraction, but the weights increase plan has already been shattered into fragments of the original Armitage proposals for vehicles of up to 44 tonnes.

Pro-lorry interests are far from happy with Mr Howell's handling of this issue, in particular the absence of any apparent public relations exercise to sell the economic and environmental benefits of the heavier vehicle, and are questioning whether this will do anything to rescue his lack-lustre Cabinet reputation since his move out of the Energy Department last year.


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