THE LONG WAY ROUND
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here are times when we wish we had paid more attention at school. Especially to basic physics. Now what was it Sir Isaac Newton said about each action having an equal and opposite reaction? He was probably talking about the Severn Bridge. Keep putting up tolls and what happens? Hauliers start going the long way round. Now that is an opposite reaction. A year ago Commercial Motor wrote that higher tolls were being blamed for raising truck traffic on the A40 by almost 50%—or 500 extra lorries a day. Gloucestershire County Council used those statistics to try and convince the Government that the high tolls were forcing more and more trucks on to its patch. Fat lot of good it did it. In a free market economy the last thing you want is central Government sticking its nose in. And the Government, let alone the Department of Transport has no intention of intervening to help hauliers hit by rising tolls. Following the most recent increase-10% in January—even more trucks have been pushed on to minor roads. 19(6-1995
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