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Operators and trade associations have described the decision to introduce a 7.5-tonne weight restriction on a Somerset road as "ludicrous" after it emerged that LGVs will be unable to turn around. Two meetings involving North Somerset Council, the Freight Transport Association (FTA), the Road Haulage Association and various environmental pressure groups have been held since February to discuss the restrictions to LGVs using the A368 and the B3134 near Cheddar in the Mendip Hills.

A joint  report by North Somerset and Somerset councils expressed reservations about the idea, but the FTA says this was ignored by the scrutiny panel in favour of a document supplied by the Campaign to Protect Rural England and Transport Management for the Villages. However, FTA regional policy manager Ian Gallagher says the decision has "enormous" safety implications because without adequate signage, LGVs will be forced to brake and be unable to turn around and find alternative routes.

Nick Huff, for local business Stowells of Yatton, says even the police are unhappy with the ban: "They won't enforce a weight limit that is on environmental grounds they will support a weight limit on safety grounds, but they won't waste their manpower." He adds: "Instead of trucks going over the Mendips with very few houses and no villages, they will have to go down the A371 which will take them through about half a dozen villages." A North Somerset Council spokesman confirms the weight restriction "is  on the cards, but we can't give an exact date".