Cheap van insurer oversteps the road markings in Leicestershire.

Breaking news.breaking news.breaking news .well it is if you're a cheap van insurer who finds yourself waking up in Leicestershire this morning, or, and more especially, if you're considering driving your cheaply insured van, or marginally bigger van that's technically classed as a lorry, through the intolerant shire sometime soon; because you'll be restricted. Now before you go any further my cheap van insuring chum, I know. This website is called Vancover.co.uk. And I haven't lost sight of that. But, as a cheap van insurer, have you ever tried to find anything remotely interesting to write about the fetch and carry industry? If so, you can have my job. I'll trundle off in your little, cheaply insured van, and go look at some U-bends - you do this. For today though, its you that has to lie there under a sink, whilst I sit on a large, comfy swivel chair. And swivel. And then go and watch the footy.

Sorry, Leicestershire, lorries, etc.the county that gave us Gary Lineker, has now given us something else to rightfully complain about, as they become the first in the UK to ban all heavy goods vehicles from its footpaths and farm tracks. Or, as you're probably more familiar with, anything trickier than an A-Road or B-Road. Anything with a weight limit, normally upward of 7.5 tonne by rule of thumb. And to keep you off them for good, the authorities that be, will issue fixed-penalty fines of £30 to those that question their Gestapo-like authority. It is Britain , and it is the 21 st century remember? What else do you expect? So how do they propose to keep tabs on those that believe rules are there to be broken? We all know that since the advent of Gatso, police patrol cars are only now seen in museums, next to call boxes, and red pillar boxes. As it happens, number-plate recognition technology, alongside of mobile camera units are the order of the day with regards stamping out this menace to society (i.e. - the cracking of quaint roads and associated flattening of local wildlife) so that's what's going to be used to eradicate the problem.

You have been warned. Not only on this site, and on the county councils website, but on road signs too. So there really is no excuse. Oh, and also via satellite navigation systems aswell. Not quite sure how that would work, but nevertheless it's been noted down as another way of spreading the word amongst commercial drivers. Personally, I don't know what's wrong with using the old Citizen Band radio, that used to do the trick in instances like this. Anyhow, besides easing the traffic flow, the ban is expected to ease the county's road repair bill, as they weren't built to cope with such an influx of heavy goods vehicles. Or anything more than a horse and cart I guess.

Lorry drivers are getting the hump over this news though, reckoning that it will lead to commercial paralysis. One such disgruntled voice is that found coming from the larynx of Geoff Dossetter from the Freight Transport Association. And in between gargling salt he said this: "It's inevitable that trucks have to get to their destination." Thought-provoking words indeed Geoff. And ones that are not lost on his arch enemy, the slightly more silver-tongued councillor that is Nicholas Ruston. This was the salvo he chose, carefully, to return; "The blanket ban is intended to stop rat runners tearing through small villages across Leicestershire." Pithy, and informative. With such structured and well thought out criticisms and responses being thrown this way and that, the heat was suddenly about to be turned up.

Evidently stirred, Mr Dossetter said: "If you need a double bed delivered to your home it has to be transported in a large truck. It's an impossible situation." To which Nicky Boy countered;"The truck drivers are being told we have a blanket weight restriction across the county - it is available on website and available on map and on satellite navigation - stick to the rules, we want to help you." So, not entirely answering his fiercest critic, but, in a local authority manner, telling it partially as it maybe. Ish. The county of Leicestershire will pay the police £60,000 per year for their enforcement of the weight restrictions. And some new baize on the HQ's snooker table. To this cheap van insurer, this is a ludicrous sum of money to be splashed around, the like of which we've never heard. Not in terms of cheap van insurance anyway, as our thousands of cheap van insurance policies would be divided many, many thousands of times into a figure like that. If you don't believe us, give us a bell right now!

Date - 21/09/2006