Trucks left out of parking proposals
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GOVERNMENT PROPOSALS to make parking restrictions fairer have infuriated haulage leaders because they exclude any reference to the loading and unloading of trucks.
The Department for Transport (DfT) proposals on how local authorities can best enforce parking restrictions follow widespread criticism of the way their contractors issue fines and clamp vehicles.
Gordon Telling, a Freight Transport Association regional policy chief, says that the issue of when commercial vehicles are parked or being loaded and unloaded needs clarification.
"But commercial use of the kerbside has been completely ignored," says Telling.
"At the moment, if a parking attendant approaches a vehicle and no-one is attending it, the presumption is that it is parking illegally.
"We want to see a presumption that if a commercial vehicle is on double yellow lines, it's there for the purpose of loading and unloading.
Mike Bracey, chair of the Brewery Logistics Group, which has campaigned on the parking issue in London for two years, is also angry that the subject of loading and unloading is not mentioned.
To me, if we are going to get this job right, we have to have our own guidelines," he says.
A spokesman for the Department for Transport says that comments made by the industry will be taken on board during the consultation process, which ends on 25 September.
The consultation document, Parking Guidance for Local Authorities, can be found on the DfT website www.dft.gov.uk.