Tolls the industry pays twice
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WHILE the standing committee of the Automobile Association, The Royal Automobile Club and the Royal Scottish Automobile Club may have given up its opposition to Dartford Tunnel tolls, the battle is far from lost or finished.
Both the Road Haulage and Freight Transport Associations will continue to argue the case for a toll-free M25. Such a charge either at Dartford or any other driver crossing is iniquitous.
[t is qrgued that the crossing must be paid for by the user. If that argument is to be followed through so has every mile of new road in the country to be paid for.
But who is to say that the crossings are not being paid for by road users already? Vehicle Excise Duty is paid for precisely that purpose, although we know that it is put to use in other directions.
If there were even a remote chance that the capital expenditure and the accrued interest charges might one day be cleared through toll collection, tolls might reluctantly be accepted. There is no likelihood of the debts' ever being cleared. Rather is the debt, through interest charges, likely to increase.
Just as night follows day so will increased tolls follow the ever-upward spiralling debts.
Of course, we would not condone irresponsible French-type blockade tactics, but the possibility cannot be ruled out. Rather, we invite the Secretary of State to lend an attentive ear to the soundly-based arguments of an industry which already puts more than its fair share into the Treasury coffers — and in advance.