PETROL tankers are to be banned from using Dublin's Port Tunnel from September 5 in a move that threatens to bring traffic chaos to the city, the Irish Independent can reveal.
The ban would see between 200 and 300 vehicles a day being forced to carry their flamable loads through city centre streets.
Dublin City Council may have to now overturn its ban on petrol tanker HGVs which have been banished from the capital since the beginning of the year.
Forcing the trucks out of the tunnel and onto the streets of the city centre would create a fresh headache for officials desperate to curb the capital's chronic traffic congestion.
Dublin Fire Brigade wants the petrol truck ban imposed after a recent incident involving a petroleum truck closed the tunnel.
But the National Roads Authority and the city council are against the move, fearing more traffic gridlock above ground.
Sources say one possible compromise is for tankers to be allowed to make "escorted" night deliveries and that the council lift the city-wide HGV ban.
Hauliers for the 'Big 4' - Statoil, Shell, Esso, Texaco - are due to meet city council officials next Wednesday.
Dublin Fire Brigade's chief fire officer, Hugh O'Neill, wrote to the NRA, which administers the tunnel, asking for the ban.
One senior source said: "They [DFB] no longer want petroleum vehicles in the tunnel. They are very definite about that."
The source added: "What's surprising is that DFB signed off on the safety and fire aspects when the tunnel opened. Everything was hunky dory, now this.
Fire officers wrote to the NRA after an incident three weeks ago when an engine turbo on a petroleum truck blew inside the tunnel.
Trucks regularly suffer turbo failures but fire officials fear that such an incident inside the Port Tunnel could have much more serious consequences.
Dublin Fire Brigade sources say that the chief concern is that firefighters may not be able to get to a serious fire in time.
They point out that firefighters had to wait three or four days to get inside the Mont Blanc Tunnel to tackle a 1999 fire that killed 39 people.
Dublin Port Tunnel has its own dedicated Tunnel Response Vehicle (TRV) to tackle fires but fire officers say fire on a larger scale would require major resources.
DFB Chief Fire Officer Hugh O'Neill confirmed that he has held talks with the NRA and Dublin City Council. He added: "Nothing has been decided. The talks are ongoing."
A spokesman for Dublin Port Tunnel said: "Of course we would enact a ban if that is what's decided."
Yesterday, it emerged that the biggest petrol station in the country is to be built at the entrance to the Port Tunnel on a 4.5-acre site.
Ciaran Byrne
Irish Independent
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