Rugby MP Mark Pawsey has taken up the issue of trailer heights in parliament after being lobbied by Lloyd Fraser.
The move is part of a growing industry campaign to head off EU plans to limit trailers to a height of 4m.
The logistics firm has been using double deck trailers for over ten years, and has been lobbying MEPs for its area as well as Mark Pawsey, MP for Rugby.
Mike Faye, operations director, and Matthew Preston, general manager, hosted Pawsey on a visit to Lloyd Fraser’s Rugby head office, where the MP was shown a loaded triple deck trailer.
While at the site Pawsey was shown research, published by Professor Alan McKinnon, which shows that replacing multi-deck trailers to fit the proposed regulations would cost the UK transport industry an additional £305m per year.
Pawsey presented these findings in a speech in parliament just before Christmas. He said: “Between 2004 and 2008 there was a 57 per cent increase in the amount of freight moved in double-deck trailers. If the EU regulations are implemented and the UK is not granted an exemption, this directive would see road haulage costs rise by roughly £305 million, with CO2 emissions increasing by 64 per cent – equivalent to having 151,000 extra cars on UK roads.
“It is important to champion the freight industry for keeping this country’s economy on the move. When it comes to the negotiations, I hope that common sense will prevail.”
In November, the Freight Transport Association wrote to EU transport commissioner Siim Kallas calling for the proposal to be scrapped. And Pall-Ex founder Hilary Devey has taken a high profile in the campaign against the proposals.
