News

TheDepartment for Transport (DfT) has refuted suggestions that it already has the results of a study into longer, heavier vehicles (LHVs) and is trying to get the findings changed. A report in The Times on Monday suggested that the government received the findings of the study by Heriot-Watt University and the Transport Research Laboratory nine  months ago.

It added that the findings did not give the DfT a reason to refuse LHVs permission to run on the UK's roads and that was why the government had delayed the report's release. Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly has already admitted she would need a lot of persuasion to allow LHVs in the UK.

But a DfT spokesman insists this is not the case. "The study was expected to have been completed by now - but given the challenging and complex nature of the project, the researchers are still examining the available evidence carefully and so the report is delayed. "There are currently no plans to publish a response, but its findings will be considered carefully and will better inform any future policy on LHVs." The DfT hopes to receive the report and make it available to Parliament before the summer recess.