1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152 
EXPERTS' VIEW
Page 13
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• When both of the road transport industry's leading trade groups join forces with the TGWU against Government policy, you know that something is seriously wrong (see page 6).
In this case, it is the "Parkinson plan" for short-distance toll roads all over the place. RHA director-general Bryan Colley, not a man known for rash statements, condemns these ludicrous proposals as "decisions based on political expediency rather than sound logistic planning". The FTA agrees, saying "improvement of the nation's strategic road network is too important to be left to the vagaries of market forces." The TGWU has rubbished the whole concept from the start.
It is the road haulier, of course, who ends up paying the bill at the toll booth. If Cecil Parkinson is allowed to build his pay-roads the British road transport industry can look forward to paying several million pounds a year more for the dubious pleasure of crawling around our badly planned, unkempt, improperly maintained and grossly overcrowded national road network.
Why does this Government always assume that it knows better than the experts? This is one more case of the Government saying that hauliers have paid more than their way for years, so let them pay again — this time not into the Exchequer but into the coffers of the big construction companies. It is worth remembering that British construction firms are among the biggest in the world and are experienced in this kind of thing: many of Spain's big toll motorways were built by British companies.
Surely there is one sensible voice left somewhere in Mrs Thatcher's Cabinet who can see that building a five or 10km toll route in the middle of a national network of free roads is nonsense? Many people will drive around them rather than along them, if only on a point of principle. And many hardpressed hauliers will certainly avoid them. Only an idiot pays twice.