News

The latest phase of the Highways Agency's (HA) online notification system for abnormal loads has gone live after overcoming "teething problems" during trials earlier this year.

Under phase three of the Electronic Service Delivery for Abnormal Loads (ESDAL) website, hauliers can notifiy local authorities, road and structure  owners, and police forces of all abnormal load movements. The system stores each notification and proposed route and enables the appropriate agency to assess the route through the ESDAL website.

According to David Collett, MD at Halifax, West Yorks-based Collett Transport, one of the problems has been with "the mapping of movements".

"During trials, the authorities have not always been able to pick up when goods have been travelling from A to B. There have been some teething problems, but the HA has been committed to fixing these, and we are confident they have been addressed.

"We believe the system is going to be good for the industry by reducing the administrative burden and improving the planning, management and notification of abnormal load movements," adds Collett.

However, Kevin Pearson, abnormal routing officer at Kings Heavy  Haulage in Bristol, says his firm wants to continue using the old method of faxing notifications.

The HA says ESDAL is entirely voluntary, but the agency would eventually like it to become the preferred method of notification for abnormal loads.

To date, 1,300 hauliers have registered to use the service and the HA's aim is to get at least 50% of these using it regularly. However, no time frame has been set for this.

Phase four of ESDAL is due to be launched in the autumn and will add functionality to provide an automated route assessment.

For more information, visit www.highways.gov.uk/esdal