CHILDREN from Dilton Marsh Primary School had the chance to sit in and explore a 44-tonne lorry from local company Lafarge Tarmac as part of a joint cycling safety initiative.

A safety presentation was given to the nine-11-year-old children, which included discussing blind spots for lorry drivers, testing the children's alertness and awareness, and discussing the 100,000 lorry deliveries every day in the UK.

Judith Finney, headmistress of Dilton Marsh Primary, said: “We were only too delighted to welcome Simon Gray and Lafarge Tarmac to school as part of their scheme to help educate children about not only the dangers of lorries on the roads, but also how they can cycle more safely to avoid some of those dangers.”

Mr Gray said: “Lafarge Tarmac's Westbury site has been reinforcing the company's year round commitment to safety as part of our health and safety month.

“We are sharing the roads with cyclists and as a local business we want to make sure that we conduct our business safely so anything we can do to make children aware of the dangers around vehicles is a good thing.”