The FTA has reiterated its support to the government of on-road trials of longer, heavier vehicles (LHVs) in the UK. Theo De Pencier, FTA chief executive, in a letter to transport secretary Ruth Kelly, says "some of the largest logistics businesses in the country" are willing to invest in controlled and monitored trials.
The letter comes as the government has once again postponed the publication date of the long-delayed Transport Research Laboratory/Heriot-Watt University 'desk-based' study
into the feasibility of LHV operation in the UK.
It was due to see the light of day at the end of February, but this has now been put back. A Department for Transport official says: "It could be a matter of weeks rather than months." De Pencier told the minister: "I hope that in publishing the report you will provide for a fuller evaluation of the costs and benefits of these vehicles, as other EU governments have felt confident to do."
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