News

Hauliers have branded a complex online system aiming to make the planning and notification of abnormal load movements easier a waste of money and "a farce". The Highways Agency's Electronic Service Delivery for Abnormal Loads (ESDAL) is designed to provide operators with a system for informing local authorities and police forces of abnormal load movements.

However, some hauliers and escort services claim that their own system of notifying  them by fax is sufficient and works well enough. Dave Goodall, for Vehicle Routing Services, says: "How much money is being spent on it? We liaise with the police. If you go through this system, you aren't going to have the contact with the police or individual authorities. It's two and a half years behind schedule; it's a farce."

Kevin Pearson, abnormal routing officer at Kings Haulage in Bristol, says: "It doesn't seem to be up and running properly at the moment. I don't do my routeing on it. We know the routes we know who we have to notify. Our work is often a repeat of the previous one. I'm quite happy with the way I do it at the moment. Until there's a better system, we will stick to what we've got."

The Highways Agency says it has no plans to charge for the system, and a spokesman adds: "It is fair to say that the task of developing ESDAL, including the collection of detailed information about  the 100,000 bridges and road network of Great Britain, has proved to be more complex than originally anticipated.

"However, we are committed to delivery and the bridge and road data is now fully loaded. Phase three, which provides the most widely used functions, is expected to enter pilot trials in early 2009."