Peak plan for truck ban
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by Patric Cunnane • Derbyshire County Council is urging the Government to ban lorries longer than 12m from travelling through Peak District towns. If the restriction is imposed, artics with 40ft trailers would be among the vehicles banned from many routes.
The council fears for public safety after eight LGVs have lost control down Lime Tree Hill in Matlock alone. It says it has the support of the Peak Park Board and three local quarry owners, including Stancliffe and Holmes, which employ many hauliers on tipper and flatbed work in the region. The areas affected would include Matlock, Darley Dale and Stanton Lees. "There are many small hamlets within the routes to and from the quarries30-tonne flatbeds have difficulty getting round the corners," says Councillor Joe Murphy, Derbyshire CC's chairman of the Highways and Transport Committee. "I've written to the Secretary of State for Transport asking for a 12m limit for areas surrounding Matlock, Darley Dale and Stanton Lees."
Murphy adds that the public perceives high-sided vehicles as safer than flatbeds.
The council is about to introduce a triplight scheme which will warn lorries approaching Matlock's notorious Lime Tree Hill, as part of an £80,000 package of safety measures.
Murphy welcomes the support of quarry owners for the council's suggested 12m restriction: "They agree with us in the best interests of their own businesses," he says.