The Freight Transport Association (FTA) has reacted with disappointment to the Local Government Association’s (LGA) inaccurate claim that freight transport is responsible for the poor state of Britain’s roads.

Instead, FTA has called on central government to reverse the downturn in spending on local infrastructure, which has caused a 14-year repairs backlog across the national road network.

Christopher Snelling, Head of Policy at FTA commented, “Freight levels on our roads are still not back to the pre-recession totals of 2006, so the LGA’s assertion that HGVs are solely responsible for the increased number of potholes on Britain’s roads is incorrect. Larger lorries do not cause increased damage to the road surface – in fact, they have more axles which spread payloads more evenly.”

Meanwhile, Road Haulage Association Chief Executive Richard Burnett said, “Many of our worst roads have little or no HGV traffic, while many of the best are used by HGVs all the time. Many other European countries have far better road surfaces despite facilitating the movement of hundreds of thousands of HGVs. In addition, there are an increasing number of 60-tonne lorries operating on continental roads causing very little, if any, damage to the road network.”

Photo: FTA and RHA dispute claims that HGVs are solely responsible for potholes.