The Telegraph reports that rural campaigners are calling for a total ban on heavy lorries using village roads as a time and cost-cutting shortcut

The ever-increasing number of HGVs thundering through villages on roads originally built for horse and carts need to be obliged to use more suitable routes.

As many as five or six times each month, lorries get wedged and can only escape when locals help them.

Those that do get through unscathed often leave behind a trail of damage of dented parked cars, ancient walls bashed or even partially demolished and telephone wires brought down.

Department of Transport figures show volumes of road freight have been rising steadily since 2014 to around 1.5 billion tons by 2019.

One consequence is that in 2021 there were 216 people killed and 847 seriously injured in accidents involving HGVs reported to the police.

The introduction of speed bumps and traffic cameras have made some impact but, with local government finances being squeezed and central initiatives cut back, they are hard to come by.

Following a recent inquest that heard that the seven-year-old died after colliding with a heavy goods lorry in Collingbourne Ducis in July 2021, Conservative MP Danny Kruger has taken up the case, and says that he is currently holding talks with ministers at the Department of Transport on two nationwide proposals to introduce a new system for road designation.

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The Telegraph - The rural communities living in fear of the plague of HGVs
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