Quarter of lorry journeys wasted

TRANSPORT

More than a quarter of the miles travelled by goods vehicles are completed with the lorries carrying no loads, figures out yesterday show. Last year, 28.7 per cent of goods vehicle mileage was "run empty", statistics from the Department of Transport revealed.

It was an improvement on the 1995 figure of 29.4 per cent. Then, the amount of empty containers on Britain's roads was a major factor in the decision by the transport secretary, Dr Brian Mawhinney, to produce a rare Green Paper to try and improve the use of the motorway network. However, experts point out, that haulage firms have become more efficient. In 1980, nearly 33 per cent of lorries "ran empty".