Longer Lorries Given Green Light on British Roads as Government Says Plans Will Cut Emissions

Lorries queue up on the A20 near Dover, Kent, England, on April 7, 2023. (PA)

The Department for Transport (DfT) has given permission for longer lorries to use Britain’s roads after claiming they are more efficient, safer, and produce less carbon emissions.

Critics have described it as a “deeply retrograde step,” while the Road Haulage Association said it does not go far enough and urged the government to increase the maximum weight of lorries.

New legislation was put before Parliament on Wednesday that will allow for lorry trailers up to 18.55 metres (61 feet) long—more than two metres longer than standard trailers—to use Britain’s roads from May 31.

In fact the trucks, known as longer semi-trailers (LSTs), have been on Britain’s roads since 2012 as part of a long-running pilot scheme.

The DfT said the new lorries would mean 8 percent fewer journeys, which would reduce carbon emissions and improve efficiency.

But LSTs have a larger tail swing and extended blind spots and concerns have been expressed on social media about how it will affect cyclists, roundabouts, and other roadside infrastructure.

The Campaign for Better Transport’s spokesman, Norman Baker, said the move was was a “deeply retrograde step” which would “do nothing to tackle carbon emissions or air pollution.”

‘Danger to Other Road Users’

Baker, a former Liberal Democrat MP, said the lorries presented a “danger to other road users and pedestrians.”

He said: “Rather than longer lorries, the government should be working to ensure more freight is moved by rail—an efficient, safe, and clean alternative with just one freight train capable of removing up to 129 lorries from our roads.”

A government-commissioned report, published in July 2021, revealed 58 people were injured in incidents involving longer lorries between 2012 and 2020.

Keir Gallagher, campaigns manager at Cycling UK, said the decision was “alarming” and added, “At a time when funding for infrastructure to keep people cycling and walking safer has been cut, it’s alarming that longer and more hazardous lorries could now be allowed to share the road with people cycling and walking.”

“Before opening the floodgates to longer lorries rolling into our busy town centres and narrow rural lanes, further testing in real-life scenarios should have been done to assess and address the risks,” Gallagher added.

But the Road Haulage Association, which represents truckers and hauliers, urged the government to increase the permitted weight limit for lorries from 44 to 48 tonnes.

A Road Haulage Association spokesman said, “This will be increasingly important when we roll out zero-emission trucks to compensate for the increased weight from batteries.”

The bakery chain Greggs has been trialling LSTs from their national distribution centre in Newcastle since 2013, and their supply chain director Gavin Kirk said: “We welcome the introduction of longer semi-trailers into general use.

“We were early adopters of the trial as we saw a significant efficiency benefits from the additional 15 percent capacity that they afforded us.”

The government said the change will generate £1.4 billion in economic benefits and take one standard-size trailer off the road for every 12 trips.

The DfT said it had studied data from the trial and found the LSTs presented major environmental benefits, including a reduction of 70,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide and 97 tonnes of nitrous oxide.

The DfT said in a statement: “The average CO2 reduction across the lifetime of the trial is similar to the amount of CO2 captured by roughly 11,600 acres of forest per year. The savings in NOx emissions averages to the entire annual NOx emissions of around 2,000 diesel cars per year.”

Among the companies planning to switch to LSTs are Morrisons, Argos, Eddie Stobart, and the Royal Mail.

Minister Says It Will Help Grow Economy

Roads minister Richard Holden said: “A strong, resilient supply chain is key to the government’s efforts to grow the economy. That’s why we’re introducing longer semi-trailers to carry more goods in fewer journeys and ensure our shops, supermarkets and hospitals are always well stocked.”

Holden said, “These new vehicles will provide an almost £1.4 billion boost to the haulage industry, reduce congestion, lower emissions, and enhance the safety of UK roads.”

Operators will be legally required to ensure appropriate route plans and risk assessments are made to take the length of the lorries into account.

But some critics on social media have pointed out that many truckers follow satellite navigation systems and ignore road signs, ending up down residential roads which are not designed for lorries.

The government said the move was part of a list of 33 actions it was taking to address the shortage of HGV drivers in Britain.

The government said it was making 11,000 places available on HGV driver training courses, boosting the number of HGV tests and providing £52.5 million to improve roadside facilities for lorry drivers.

PA Media contributed to this report.