Channon may let in light heavies
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• Transport Secretary Paul Channon will fight pressure from other European transport ministers to force Britain to accept 40-tonne weight limits at next week's Council of Ministers meeting in Brussels.
However, Channon privately acknowledges that he may have to give ground on some lighter classes of vehicle.
While Britain can use its veto to block a change in the maximum weight ceiling of 38 tonnes, Channon Can be outvoted on the weights of two-, threeand four-axle rigid vehicles allowed on UK roads.
In the Commons yesterday, (Wednesday 8 March) MPs were due to debate truck weights and dimensions, and Roads and Traffic Minister Peter Bottomley was expected to admit that the pressure is mounting to abandon the special agreement and swing the UK and Ireland into line with EC lorry standards by 1996.