RHA: Campaign for Better Transport report – The Way Forward or a Step Backwards
The Campaign for Better Transport’s antipathy towards road transport, whose costs it seeks to increase, is well known: as is its lobbying for rail. Its main aim is to impose greatly increased costs on road haulage to support rail rather than to “level the playing field” between British and foreign firms.
“It is hard to see how this proposed scheme would do little more than pile cost and administrative complexity on the industry”, said RHA Head of Communications Kate Gibbs. “The package of ‘sweeteners’ would be subject to Treasury approval, both before and after introduction and the Treasury has consistently rejected the idea of rebates.
“We welcome the Coalition’s review of the issue and would strongly support a scheme that imposed a charge on foreign trucks that did not also hit domestic fleets. So far, such a formula has proved to be extremely elusive.
“CBT rejects a simple daily charge, as is levied in, for example, Benelux. We see this as perhaps the most promising avenue open to the industry, albeit that the impact would be limited and it would be hard enough even with such a modest scheme to avoid a negative impact on UK trucks”.
UK hauliers and economic growth are best supported by holding diesel duty at the current level – a policy CRT would oppose – and encouraging an increase in the EU minimum duty level.
Road Haulage Association – phone us first
For more details, contact RHA Head of Media Relations, Kate Gibbs on . . .
Tel: +44 (0) 1932 838917
Mob: + 44 (0) 7979 531451
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