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Fuel duty rebate was on the cards
Page 6
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Secret promises of an early fuel rebate have died alongside the LRUC. Dominic Perry reports.
THE ROAD transport industry was set to be granted an early fuel duty rebate as part of the government's now abandoned plans for Lorry Road User Charging.
All those who were party to the proposed deal were made to sign letters of confidentiality, but now the LRUC scheme is dead they feel free to speak out.
The rebate was designed to maintain the faltering support of the trade associations, which were becoming increasingly concerned at the rising costs of the scheme.
Roger King, chief executive at the Road Haulage Association, is convinced the fuel duty cut was imminent: -We had called for it as gesture of goodwill and they had confirmed they were working on that.We were on the verge of being able to deliver something very positive for the industry." But King has hit out at the way the LRUC was constantly derided: "There was a welter of criticism and carping over it. But the fact is we couldn't reveal everything that had been discussed. We asked industry to trust us; it thought otherwise."
-We [and the VIA] had both worked hard to get wins out of this and they were beginning to come. This was the only thing on the table that solved [our] basic problems. People can't accept that the trade associations do work with government in confidence and immediately think there's some sort of sell-out going on."
However, both trade associations failed to convince their membership that the LRUC was the only way forward for the industry.
Ian Truswell,a director of Barnsley-based Truswell Haulage, says: "My initial feeling is one of relief. along with, I would have thought, the rest of the industry when we look at the big picture."
Andy Boyle, director of Herefordshire haulage firm ABE (Ledbury) and an RHA board member, defends the association's position: "It's not correct to say that the RHA wanted LRUC, but it couldn't see an alternative.
"Unfortunately the membership don't know all the issues and aren't in direct contact with the government. I don't think we are out of touch—maybe we just didn't preach the gospel well enough." OThe ETA has approached the RHA suggesting a high-level meeting between the two associations. VIA chief executive Richard Turner is also due to meet Treasury Minister John Healey, Transport Secretary Alistair Darling and LRUC boss Vincent Geake.