Road safety has been under scrutiny over recent years as concerns have grown over the dangers posed by lorries, particularly with regard to cyclists.
A number of high profile deaths, concentrated in London, have prompted the road haulage industry and the Mayor of London to respond.
Heavy Goods Vehicles in the Capital must now be fitted with new safety equipment by September this year or see themselves removed from the roads.
But despite this public commitment amongst senior policy makers to improving safety on the roads, there is a hidden danger which is not currently being addressed.
Due to a legal loophole, vehicles known as ‘volumetrics’ are not classified as HGVs and are therefore exempt from the usual regulations that are vital to protect both road users and drivers.
According to the Director of Economic and Public Affairs at the Mineral Products Association, Jerry McLaughlin, the problem has come to the fore in the last five years, during which time there has “been a quite significant increase in the number of these volumetric trucks in operation.”
Estimates suggest that the number of these vehicles on the road could be in excess of 700, but Mr McLaughlin describes this as “probably a modest total.”
“They are perfectly good machines which are now an established part of the concrete market which is fine, so we are not in any way against the use of these machines themselves. What we are concerned about is that, unlike any other heavy goods vehicle the level of regulation is very limited, which seems perverse,” he says.
Explaining the MPA’s stance further, Mr McLaughlin outlines the physical differences between the volumetrics and other HGVs, saying: “The cab is the same, the chassis is the same, it just has different sort of equipment on the back. But to all intents and purposes it is an HGV. So it would just look like a slightly different sort of lorry to a member of the public who was unaware of the finer points.
“Basically; if it looks like a duck, and it quacks like a duck, it probably is a duck.
“It is a bit of a historical accident because virtually any vehicle on the road above 3.5 tonnes is classified as a heavy goods vehicle and is subject to a clear set of regulations. But there is also a category of vehicles called engineering plant, which is designed for vehicles that operate on the road, for example during road improvement works, but aren’t used commercially on the road to deliver materials.
“Because of a loophole in the law, these volumetric plant have managed to get themselves officially classified as engineering plant rather than HGVs. But now these vehicles are being used quite extensively to deliver materials on the road and that creates a real imbalance between regulated and unregulated vehicles on the road.”
The regulations he refers to are strict for HGVs, with a central aspect being to limit the amount of weight that can be carried to 32 tonnes for a standard lorry with four axles , ensuring vehicles are not overloaded.
Volumetrics, however, are not subject to this rule and often carry much heavier loads of up to 45 tonnes on UK roads.
This has safety implications for pedestrians as well as other road users, and also takes a toll on the country’s road network.
For Mr McLaughlin, the lack of restrictions on drivers’ hours and general absence of oversight are also major concerns.
He says: “If you are a driver of an HGV you have to operate within European drivers’ hours limits and also within European working time rules. Now, these constraints on the hours drivers can work and the number of breaks they have to take have been brought in over the years to ensure safety, so that drivers aren’t working long hours and creating a road safety hazard.
“In any HGV you see on the road, the driver will have to obey these laws and he will have to record his hours. So, the drivers have a record of their working hours and the regulator can see if they have been obeying the law. Now, if you’re driving a volumetric truck you don’t need to do that as there is no limit on your working hours.”
“Also, if you operate HGVs you have to have something called an Operator Licence. Without this it is illegal to operate and the regulatory process is managed by Traffic Commissioners throughout the UK
“Essentially what happens is if an HGV operator is breaking the rules consistently then the traffic commissioner can remove their licence and stop them operating or impose conditions on the way they operate. So, it’s supposed to ensure that you only have reasonable and reputable lorry operators on the road.
“Now, if you are operating volumetrics that are not regarded as HGVs then you are not regulated by the traffic commissioner. There is no one managing or overseeing the way that you are operating on the public roads. So, that regulatory safety net that applies to HGVs doesn’t actually apply to volumetrics.
A further issue, he says, is the impact on businesses, and SMEs in particular.
“It’s not necessarily the biggest companies that are suffering. If you are a small company operating three or four concrete mixers, which are fully regulated, and you have got competition down the road from a guy who is just working all the hours on an overloaded vehicle, commercially that is going to be very difficult to manage.
Given the weight of evidence it may seem surprising that Government has not yet taken any action to address this problem.
The MPA has been attempting to engage decision makers since 2010, and despite a recommendation in 2014 by the Transport Select Committee, which recommended bringing volumetrics under HGV regulation, no further steps have been taken.
Mr McLaughlin remains optimistic, however, that persistence will bring change in this Parliament.
“We are continuing to make representations, and I think it is quite significant that a year ago, without any prompting from us, it was picked up by the Transport Select Committee. We have also received a lot of support from Transport for London who recognise the importance of this issue. They are very much in line with our thinking about this.
“It is really simple. All we are asking for is that all HGVs are treated the same. These volumetrics are smart vehicles, they are particularly good at supplying smaller loads to customers who might not want a full lorry load of concrete. So, there is a long-term market for these vehicles even if they are properly regulated. As such we think it is entirely reasonable that they are just brought into the same regulatory framework as any other lorry.”