News

Dublin City Council (DCC) says its ban on five-axle trucks has been a huge success but it still hasn't decided whether to extend the scheme to include four-axle rigids.

In a new report the council says the ban, which began on 19 February, has removed 1,500 LGVs a day from the city-centre streets. Combined with the opening of the Dublin Port tunnel, DCC says freight traffic has been cut by 4,100 five-axle  vehicles a day.

However, it has had to pay out €200,000 in toll rebates to operators of trucks moving between the North and South Port areas because there was no alternative route for them.

DCC's strategy includes extending the ban to all four-axle vehicles from 2009, but this may be relaxed to cover only artics. DCC's head of technical services, Brendan O'Brien, says it will spend next year working out what to do.

Jimmy Quinn of the Irish Road Haulage Association says: "It's just another layer of bureaucracy we can do without. Four-axle vehicles are hauling stuff into M&S and the other stores. The heavy-duty stuff has virtually gone from the city centre there's not much need for it."

In a submission to DCC on how the strategy has operated, local firm Reynolds Logistics says it supports the  LGV strategy, even though it has increased its running costs by 7%.