The Freight Transport Association has welcome a temporary relaxation of drivers’ hours following closure of the Forth road bridge.
The Department for Transport has relaxed drivers’ hours until 6 January, allowing goods and passenger vehicle drivers who would normally have used the route to drive for 11 rather than nine hours a day.
The bridge, which carries 70,000 vehicles a day, shut for emergency repairs to a crack in the steelwork and will not re-open until the New Year. Drivers have to make a 50-mile detour via the Kincardine Bridge.
Chris MacRae, FTA’s head of policy for Scotland, said: “The bridge closure makes it impossible in some cases for deliveries to be made on time so this relaxation will help Scottish industry, exporters and consumers in the busy run-up to Christmas.”
****
