Truck parks figure prominently in today’s news: as Kent residents express mixed opinions on the proposed M20 truck park, the government confirms that the Highways Agency is to have more influence on truck-park planning from now on. Staying for a moment on the topic of infrastructure, the Civil Engineering Contractors Association has warned that road-building plans will continue to be “at the mercy of external pressures from the Treasury”.

Acquisitions featured heavily earlier in the week and today we learn that Hargreaves Services has bought AJS Contracts for £4.6m. Another acquisitive firm, DSV Road – buoyed by its recent purchase of Roadferry – is examining the potential of using rail freight for its UK network.

Recently we carried a story on the public-sector partners of the Low Carbon Vehicle Procurement programme and today it emerges that Cenex has been chosen to deliver the scheme. While we’re on the green theme, East Midlands-based UTD Research has applied for a patent to dispose of old tyres economically and responsibly by turning them into diesel.

On the blogs today, BigLorryBlog discovers a 1950s Cadillac Superior hearse that has been turned into a pickup truck – and spots ‘the first van in space’.