THE Government is to be asked to ban lorries from overtaking on the A34 by Oxfordshire County Council.

Councillors yesterday agreed for Ian Hudspeth to write to the Secretary of State for Transport and appeal to him to restrict heavy goods vehicles to the inside lane.

The Secretary of State would then have to ask Highways England to put an enforcement order in place, which would require lorry drivers to abide by the new rules.

The motion, agreed by Oxfordshire County Council, asked for the regulations to apply on the A34 between where it meets the M4 junction 13 and where it meets the M40 junction 9.

It was proposed by Conservative councillor Patrick Greene and was backed by 51 votes to zero, with nine abstentions.

Mr Harris said he had seen figures from Thames Valley Police that showed there had been 43 accidents on the road with 63 casualties between September 2014 and February 2015.

The statistics showed eight people were killed on the road between January 2010 and February 2015.

Mr Greene said: “All these statistics must add a serious burden to our hospitals and a financial burden to the NHS.

“There is also a colossal burden to the emergency services and police.”

He said he believed problems were caused by HGVs trying to overtake but not being able to do so properly due to being limited to 60mph.

This, he claimed, could cause frustration for drivers behind them in the outside lane who could then take risks resulting in crashes.

But one haulage firm boss expressed concerns about the proposals.

Paul Davies, business development manager for Bicester-based Clayton DA Transport, said: “I think saying that (lorry drivers cause more accidents on the A34) is an overstatement by a long way.

“It would have an impact on the business we’re in as we’re expected to be places certain times.”

And at the meeting, Liberal Democrat councillor Roz Smith said she also had reservations.

She said: “This has been tried in other areas, but stopped because of problems.

“We have to move lorries off the A34. We need to get freight off the roads and on to the railways.

 

“If you have this you will have some junctions where you have five or ten lorries travelling in convoy.”

But the proposal has been backed by HGV driver Bill Service, who works at RAF Benson.

The 62-year-old said: “There’s a huge amount of freight lorries running up and down the A34 from Southampton to the Midlands.

“It’s safety of human life that’s more important. No deadline is worth a loss of human life.”

And independent councillor Neville Harris defended the role of lorry drivers.

He said: “HGV drivers are a very competent lot.

“I would like to know how many accidents related to lorries and their professional drivers “I think a lot related to cars and vans.”

No details were given of when Mr Hudspeth will write to the Secretary of State with the proposals.