Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-01-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his policy is on the use of longer-length or mega lorries in (a) the UK and (b) urban areas.

Andrew Jones

The longest length of lorry allowed on UK roads, including urban areas, is the road train at 18.75m. This is the maximum authorised length of lorry that the General Circulation Directive permits for national and international traffic. The Department is currently trialing longer semi-trailers (which are up to 2m longer than standard sized articulated lorries) although these are shorter than the road trains that are already in circulation across EU roads.

Local authorities have powers under Sections 1 & 2 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, to exclude heavy goods vehicles either generally or at specified times from roads for which they are considered to be unsuitable.