The Car Hub

Under the guise of being more environmentally friendly the European Road Transport lobby are now doing their utmost to foist huge 80ft.long and 60ton weight lorries onto British roads.

These types of juggernauts are among the biggest and heaviest in the world with up to 10 axles and heavier than a Boeing 737.

With the Dutch in the driving seat they are seeking an overall E.U. decision on allowing these mega-trucks to take to the roads.

Previously these giants of the road have mainly been seen in places like Australia, S.Africa and on the American continent.

While the British Road Haulage Association do not oppose the proposals to have these trucks on our roads the UK transport research laboratory has an ally in the German Environmental Agency in opposing them whoPicturealso agree the change would be environmentally damaging.

The pro lobby claim the benefits of these giants are to attain lower Co2 emissions and fuel consumption and also resulting in a lower number of journeys and overall estimated to be 15-30% cheaper to run.

Imagine these mega vehicles on British motorways, it doesn't bear thinking of them on our "A" roads, one mega truck trying to overtake another, the thunder of sound from all those axles carrying nearly 60 tons in weight, is there to be any room in the outside lane even for a small car?

If the E.U. does allow these juggernauts permission to use E.U. roads think of the infrastructure costs to accommodate them, possibly to raise some bridges, enlarge roundabouts, widen exit/entry roads to motorways, (they have to get off the motorways somewhere), then finally with these monsters weighing 50% more than the current maximum allowed on UK roads how long will road surfaces last?

All this supposedly in the name of the environment and cost savings.

It seems strange writing about the environment today, the day after Michael Jackson's death. Yes, strangely because Michael Jackson could well be the reason why millions of young UK people are conscious of environmental issues today. Not many people will be aware that his first UK No.1 back in 1996 was a huge success called Earth Song, which was also the Xmas No.1 that year; it was described at that time as an "environmental anthem"

Unfortunately we are still trying to create problems for our environment.