Has the Department for Transport longer semi-trailers trial been operated in London and, if so, has any safety evaluation been undertaken specifically relating to their use on London’s roads?

There are currently 2,696 longer semi-trailers (LSTs) registered for the Department for Transport’s (DfT) trial as at May 2021. While there are no restrictions on where in Great Britain the registered LSTs can operate, any operational data shared between operators and DfT’s independent trial evaluators, Risk Solutions, is confidential. The annual trial evaluation reports do not include any routing details.

The data available suggests that the LST fleet does not have a higher incident rate than the average for GB articulated Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGV) on urban and minor roads. It is also unlikely that the LST incident rate for roads used by vulnerable users is higher than the average for the GB HGV articulated fleet.

A safety evaluation for London has not been undertaken, but the assumption is that these LSTs are used mainly for trunking routes between Regional Distribution Centres (RDC) not for multi-drop operations within urban areas. All operators are required to report all incidents and collisions to allow further evaluation. The latest report can be found at the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploa...