Hauliers snub Government pleas to shun 'flagging out'
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• Hauliers, including at least one Road Haulage Association director, say they are now more determined than ever to go abroad and have rejected the latest Government warnings on the severe costs of "flagging out".
In Parliament last week hauliers were told that registering trucks abroad would mean they would be faced with a higher overall tax burden than they currently face CM 19-25 Nov). RHA director Andrew Wishart of Andrew Wishart and Son in Kirkcaldy says hauliers have to "try something" and says initially he is considering moving some of his fleet abroad to save on costs.
"We are going to test the waters," he says. "If we are saving money we will send out more."
Wishart says customers of his in Holland have offered him space at their depots for his trucks. "We have to see first how much road taxes will go up," he says. "Everything is up to that."
Aberdeen-based haulier Les McKenzie, of Les McKenzie International Transport, says Wishart and other hauliers will save thousands of pounds by going abroad. "I don't believe the Government when they say our costs will be higher," he says. "Many RHA members I talked to last week agree with me and are still determined to go." McKenzie says he is to go ahead with registering some of his six trucks in Holland. "I sold four trucks last year. I won't get any more. We are cripplingly uncompetitive with the rest of Europe," he says.