A HAULIER has defended the need for lorries in a North Yorkshire town - saying banning HGVs will not reduce congestion or pollution.

An experimental Traffic Regulation Order will be introduced in the spring to stop vehicles weighing more than 7.5 tonnes from using the level crossing in Norton, near Malton.

North Yorkshire County Council agreed to the 18-month order in November with further consultations currently underway on the criteria for any exemptions to the restriction.

However, Andrew Wilson, a partner at C J Wilson in Slingsby, said alternative practical solutions were needed.

"I feel, as a local haulier and farmer carrying goods through Malton and Norton, that we ought to perhaps offer our views on this subject," he said.

"HGVs seem to get lambasted for being polluting vehicles. Actually, they are very clean. New technology was introduced in 2005 which had a huge impact on cleaning up emissions. Very few cars even now have this facility.

"It is worth remembering that everything bought in a shop gets there in a truck of one description or another, and in most cases a process to produce the goods requires trucks to move things from one stage of the process to another - like pigs being taken to the bacon factory, then the meat being distributed to the shops."