■■■■ Denbys in the local rag again this morning 
Haulage boss says his 25-metre super-lorry will soon be allowed on UK roads
SUPERLORRY pioneer ■■■■ Denby believes it is now just a matter of time before monster trucks like his 25.25m-long vehicle are allowed to run on Britain’s roads.
Mr Denby, chairman of Lincoln firm Denby Transport, was stopped in his tracks during the huge lorry’s maiden voyage in December 2009.
The company was served with a prohibition notice preventing the lorry’s use as soon as it left its base in Doddington Road, because it was over the permitted maximum length.
But now the Government is considering raising the permitted lorry length by two metres — opening the way for possible further relaxations in the future.
Ministers are consulting on whether to extend the overall length of a two-piece articulated lorry by 2m (6.5ft) to 18.55m (60.8ft), although the existing weight limit of 44 tonnes would not change.
A rigid truck towing a trailer is already allowed to have a total length of 18.75m (61.5ft).
Mr Denby’s 25.25m (82.8ft) three-piece articulated truck is made up of a cab towing two trailers. It has a freight capacity of 142 cubic metres, compared with 103 cubic metres in the extension proposed by the Government.
Such lorries would operate on major roads between distribution centres.
“The future is higher cubic capacity,” said Mr Denby, 75.
"Modern supermarkets need this, for example loaves of bread don’t weigh much but they take up a lot of room.
"Our railways no longer carry unit loads, only train loads, so there’s no surprise the shipper chooses road for 89 per cent of the inland cargo on the move.
"We have already got ten of our lorries running in the Netherlands and two others under construction.
"They are built under licence from us. Lorries as big as ours are currently also used in Germany, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark.
"I think that, given the latest consultation, even bigger lorries like ours will eventually be allowed in the UK.
"It’s a question of when. The lorry we trialled here might be going to Germany.
“The UK is more dependent on lorries for inland freight than anywhere else in the EU, apart from maybe Italy. The railways are welcome to carry the heavy goods, but the best way to ship volume-heavy items is by road.”
But Campaign for Better Transport’s chief executive, Stephen Joseph, said there were huge implications for road safety in allowing longer lorries.
“Longer HGVs will further damage this Government’s green credentials and undermine efforts to adopt rail as a more sustainable, safer and environmentally sensible way to move freight,” he said.
"Rather than making HGVs longer and more dangerous to other motorists and cyclists, the Government should be doing more to promote rail freight and enforcing existing road regulations to reduce accidents involving lorries.
“If the Government allows this increase, it could be the tip of the iceberg with so-called mega-trucks just around the corner.”
And he’ll then be waiting even longer! 
this was done in a large ‘off public road’ area in company vehicles. There was only one in the fleet with a tow hitch added