Longer HGV Lorries Rolled Out On Roads

Here at Keep Legal, we keep bringing you the news stories that matter to HGV lorry drivers and the logistics industry as a whole.

A recent article that appeared on gov.uk mentioned how longer HGV lorries were going to save £1.4 billion for the logistics sector by reducing 70,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.

You can read the full article at the link above but a short version is below.

Longer lorries will be introduced to Great Britain’s (GB’s) roads to support the government’s priority to grow the economy, boost productivity, slash road emissions and support supply chains.

Legislation will be laid today (10 May 2023) to safely roll out the vehicles on roads from 31 May. The longer lorries will be able to transport fast-moving consumer goods and retail products, as well as waste packaging, parcels and pallets.

These new lorries will move the same volume of goods, but will use 8% fewer journeys than current trailers. This will generate an expected £1.4 billion in economic benefits and take one standard-size trailer off the road for every 12 trips.

As part of efforts to grow the economy and cut emissions, government is changing regulations to allow longer trailers on GB roads, which it estimates will save 70,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere.

These longer trailers, known as longer semi-trailers (LST) measure up to 2.05 metres longer than a standard semi-trailer and can be towed by a lorry.

The move follows an 11-year trial to ensure LSTs are used safely on roads, and operators will be encouraged to put extra safety checks and training in place. The trial demonstrated that LSTs were involved in around 61% fewer personal injury collisions than conventional lorries.

Keep Legal is a company based in Essex providing HGV/LGV/ADR/CPC and other professional lorry driving and training courses to drivers in Essex, Greater London, with remote courses held across major cities in the UK.