Super Lorry Hits Road To Test Law

• News
• Published: 01 Dec 2009 in Motoring and Van Insurance

A Lincoln transport firm boss defied traffic officials by driving his 82-foot super lorry along public roads for the first time.

Seventy-four-year-old grandfather Dick Denby was stopped by police before being questioned by an official from the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) as he got behind the wheel of his new lorry.

The super lorry is longer than a standard 22-yard cricket pitch and weighs more than a Challenger II tank.

After dismounting the cab of the lorry at the depot of Denby Transport on the outskirts of Lincoln, its chairman told a waiting police officer: "A new experience every day, that's my motto in life."

The grandfather of six added: "It's one job at a time. The next step is for me to talk to our legal advisors and I'll take their advice. But it's beautiful to drive and it's the same as any other truck."

Denby wants to be allowed to operate the truck but regulations currently prevent him from doing so. The size of any prospective van insurance quote remains to be seen.

The monster truck, which consists of two trailers attached to a cab and is 26-feet longer than a standard lorry would enable the number of lorries on British motorways to be reduced by a third, the company says.

It claims it would be environmentally friendly and although it would weigh 60 tonnes fully loaded, the firm would only load it to the maximum UK weight limit of 44 tonnes.

It would be used to carry lightweight goods such as aluminium cans and light foodstuffs such as cereals and crisps.