Roads: Long and Heavy Vehicles

Lord Geddes Excerpts

Wednesday 1st December 2010 Lords Chamber

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, most of what the noble Lord says is right. We are looking at an increase in the cubic capacity of an articulated vehicle, but we have absolutely no intention of increasing the gross weight of a goods vehicle, for precisely the reasons that the noble Lord explained.

[Lord Geddes]

My Lords, is the crucial question in this context not the axle weights rather than the overall weight?

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, the noble Lord makes an important point. The damage to the road goes up in proportion to the fourth power of the axle weight, but we have no intention of altering the permitted axle weights either. However, the type of vehicle we are looking at will require different axle arrangements on the rear of the vehicle.