mental rboanir shirt politics of sacrifice." Road hauliers reading that
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statement in the Labour Party's latest environmental policy document, in Trust for Tomorrow, will be no doubt be relieved to hear it (see news story, page 6). It must be said that, with the notable exception of a few high-profile own-account operators, hauliers generally favour the well-cut suit of leave-well-alone entrepreneurial independence over the hair shirt of environmentalism. Green just isn't their colour. But dismissing Labour's environmental policies on freight transport could be a shortsighted move because Labour might just win the next General Election. "Well I won't vote for them," says Joe Soap Haulier. "Just listen to what they say about road haulage." He's right of course. One old chestnut is still there: "A Labour government will seek to double the amount of freight carried by rail within the course of one Parliament_ A doubling of rail capacity on long-distance bulk haulage would reduce long-haul HGV traffic by almost a half." Nice work if you can get it. Or better still if you can get someone else to pay for it. At the last General Election Labour talked about raising taxes to pay for decent services. Look where it got them. Of course the Tories raised taxes but that was different...
Labour asserts that it will "work with the private sector to invest in rail" but this assumes that there are hordes of investors waiting to fund the growth of railfreight. There aren't. And after the collapse of Charterail, who can blame them for hanging back? You won't find many shoppers queueing up to pay more for their groceries simply because they're delivered by rail; what the public wants is cheap, flexible transport. Step forward road haulage.The reason why the public is prepared to blast the trucks that keep their supermarkets shelves full is because the industry has a pitiful record in promoting its own case. The answer to that problem lies in the industry's hands. So would a Labour government spell disaster for Joe Soap Haulier? It seems to be a case of swings and roundabouts p -.Ail because as well as its pro-railfreight policy, in Trust for Tomorrow rejects motorway tolls "which will place traffic on to other roads and cause greater congestion, greater pollution and higher accident rates". Someone should send the DOT a copy; they might learn something.