Two metres longer than conventional units, LSTs can carry three additional rows of roll cages or two more rows of pallets per trip.
Up to the end of 2019, the trials showed a saving of some 33.5 million miles and a corresponding reduction of 48,000 tonnes of CO2, according to a report in the leading industry weekly, Commercial Motor (19th November 2020 issue). Interestingly, personal injury collisions were also reduced compared with those involving standard HGVs.
The trial results arrive at the end of a long journey; one that we at Dawsongroup truck and trailer sought to shorten from the very start. We argued that access for leading rental, leasing and contract hire companies to the limited number of LST licences granted by the government would result in wider and faster usage by a broader range of operators. Disappointingly, the government at the time granted licences only to a limited number of traditional operators.
Picking up on the words of Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, who said: “These trials clearly show the benefits for business and the environment of using longer trailers”, I confirmed that we were already working with leading trailer manufacturers in the expectation of the right decision being made.
We led the way with Euro-6 vehicles, by making them available on our fleet so that our customers could make up their own minds about the new technology; we did the same with gas-fuelled rigids and tractor units; and we’ll now do the same again with LSTs. Operators deserve the earliest chance to evaluate these advances in an economical and flexible way.
An industry consultation is now running until 1st February to gather views on whether the trial should be ended.
John Fletcher, Managing Director