Identity Crisis

When B-Trains were introduced, they were renamed B-Doubles to make them less offensive to the Australian anti-truck lobby.

- Steev Hayes

We tend to assume the UK is the only country with a strong anti-truck lobby and other nations have the backing of the population when it comes to working out the best size and design of trucks needed to deliver goods across individual countries. But that is actually quite inaccurate.

One of the most well-known countries for having a more progressive attitude to road transport and the size of trucks allows on its roads is Australia, where three-trailer road trains grossing 115 tonnes are commonplace. But apparently, when the suggestion of running more humble B-Doubles (twin trailer combinations) arose, there was a bit of a backlash – some vigorous opposition.

“There is no doubt there is a large element of misunderstanding by the motoring public,” said Dave King, a tanker driver for the Shell Oil Company.

“B-Doubles handle as well as – possibly even better than – the traditional artic.

“But the anti-truck lobby created such confusion when the idea of twin-trailer combinations was discussed some years ago, everyone expected to see a lot of giant rigs hitting the highways, and that really caused some concerns.”

He said they even began calling these new truck outfits a different name to go some way to placating those who opposed them. “Our industry latched onto the idea of calling these new combinations ‘B-Doubles’ rather than ‘’B-Trains’ because by using the word ‘double’ we not only emphasised the idea of two trailers, but also avoided the sensitive word ‘train’,” he explained.