FTA’s head of road freight policy, James Firth, said: 'Obviously, FTA wants to ensure that the products it stocks are top notch so, without any governmental influence, we worked closely with the satnav industry over the past few years to develop and refine a better "truck-nav"; the TomTom PRO7100 Truck is it.

'This particular unit has been rigorously tested by FTA and, following a recent plea from the transport minister for government to engage with satnav companies to solve the problem of inappropriate satnav routing, we hope this helps to reassure Government that a perfectly robust solution already exists.'

However, he added: 'We would issue the caveat that although the latest technology is now extremely dependable, drivers must not over-rely on these units to make their decisions for them. Ultimately, there can be no substitute for common sense and driver awareness.'
 
All drivers have to do is enter their vehicle’s weight and dimensions into the unit and it will plan a route based on appropriate clearance heights, weight restrictions, speed restrictions and problematic sharp turns. Crucially, the unit also provides appropriate routing even in the absence of statutory restrictions.

The unit can be adapted to suit a variety of different size vehicles, even caravans and motorcaravans, and a map share function allows drivers to make corrections to their map by adding their own access restriction information.  

The TomTom PRO7100 truck navigation solution is available from Shopfta at £349 plus VAT (http://www.shop.fta.co.uk/p-912-tomtom-pro7100.aspx).  For further information go to Shopfta at www.shop.fta.co.uk or call 08717 11 11 11.