Banned wagon
A weekly survey of the things our rulers want to prohibit
WILLIAM Hague has been busily posi- tioning himself this past week as the motorist's, and particularly the truck- er's, friend. The Mr Toads of this world will not fear persecution by him. Or will they? The truckers baying for Mr Blair's blood last week would do well to avoid reading Believing in Britain, the Tories' mini-manifesto published earli- er this month. Buried deep within the document lies a promise 'to remove unsuitable vehicles from unsuitable roads'. I telephoned Central Office for enlightenment. Surely the party cannot be contemplating banning last week's `fine, upstanding citizens' from taking their 40-tonne trucks on short cuts through the nation's towns and vil- lages? But it is. 'If it is desired locally that trucks should be removed from the streets, and if there is an alternative route, we will force lorries to take it,' says a spokesman.
Though it won't win Mr Hague many friends in the juggernaut community, more restrictions on heavy lorries would at least win him support from others. That is more than can be said for transport policy number two: 'We will introduce a minimum speed limit on some lanes of some motorways.' Who hasn't at some time snarled at a caravan or a truck trying to overtake a line of vehicles up a long hill? One more problem: what happens when you get to a traffic jam, and progressing at Mr Hague's minimum legal speed means you rapidly land in the boot of the car in front? 'Obviously you couldn't keep to the minimum in heavy traffic,' says a spokesman. Indeed not. Then why try to make a criminal of every driver who has ever taken to the road in the rush hour?
Ross Clark
Previous page
