GOVERNMENT plans to avoid a repeat of the motorway gridlock experienced last winter by having winter tyres fitted to lorries have run aground after being rejected by freight firms.
Transport Minister Keith Brown made the roll-out of winter tyres a priority in his preparations for the forthcoming winter.
A voluntary alliance of manufacturers, distributors and driving organisations was convened in February to examine the use of winter tyres.
However, the Freight Trade Association (FTA), which represents around half of the UK’s haulage firms, has rejected the plans as too expensive.
The Road Haulage Assocation, while not ruling out their use, has said it is yet to see a business case for the tyres, making it impossible to order and fit them in any significant numbers in time.
The lack of action will be a blow to workers and MSPs in Dundee who had hoped the Michelin tyre plant there would benefit from the rise in demand.
Chris MacRae, FTA’s head of policy for Scotland, said: “It’s very hard to make a business case for winter tyres. They’re more expensive tyres and difficult to order. If dealers wanted to fit tyres to lorries for December, they would have had to order them by now. Where do you store perfectly good tyres? You can’t store them forever. From a freight point of view, the industry is not geared up to do this. On some contracts it could wipe out profits.”
Mr MacRae said there were also safety concerns as it would mean taking wheels on and off vehicles more often and increase the likelihood of wheel loss incidents.
Phil Flanders, regional director for Scotland of the Road Haulage Association, said he would not rule out their use entirely but said they were unlikely to be appropriate for all businesses.
“It is more complex to plan for trucks than cars. Each lorry is unique in terms of what kind of tyres it would need. We were hoping to see a cost benefit analysis which would give people an informed choice but that hasn’t been provided,” he said.
However, the FTA said there had been progress on communicating information about weather incidents to hauliers and an agreement on moving HGVs on to motorway hard shoulders to allow access to gritting vehicles.
A spokeswoman for Transport Scotland declined to say whether it had dropped plans to fit winter tyres to trucks but said the alliance had focused on “market supply and demand issues”.
She added: “The meeting also provided an ideal opportunity to work with the freight and haulage industry on winter tyre issues for HGVs. Positive outcomes included planning for a Get Ready For Winter week in late October and information about winter tyres, including increased supply, together with journey planning advice and messages about safer winter driving.”
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