HGV test fee
Page 7
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
is 'preposterous'
PLANS to up the hgv driving test fee by 200 per cent are "preposterous," the Freight Transport Association has told the Department of Environment.
In relation to the rate of inflation since autumn 1974 the FTA can see no way in which an increase from £8 to E24 can be justified (CM May 21).
Trade and industry, says the Association, were continually faced with increases across the board, but were expected by Government to exercise restraint in price increases and to contain increased costs as far as possible by increased efficiency.
The DoE, says FTA, had proposed an increase which would be outrageous if proposed by trade and industry. The rules which applied to the rest of the country should apply equally to Government departments, perhaps even more so as an example to others, the Association has told the DoE.
It was also necessary to consider the impact the proposal would have on the young Driver Training Scheme; a 200 per cent increase was bound to have an adverse effect.
A sample survey of FTA members had revealed that some 70 per cent accepted responsibility for payment of hgv testing fees, subject to certain conditions, and so the increase represented a further twist to the cost spiral following, as it did, hard on the heels of the substantial increase in hgv testing and 0-licence fees.
Where the fees were paid by drivers themselves the increase, says FTA, was especially high, and ill-timed, bearing in mind the Government's wages policy.