STICK AND CARROT
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• It's our world. We all live in it, we've all got to take care of it. So why aren't we doing it now? The latest waste of paper from the Government's Environment Office, This Common Inheritance, shows just how ambivalent the Government is when it comes to tackling serious environmental issues. More disturbing, however, is the road transport industry's evident disregard for the subject. Over the past 18 months no one visiting a Continental truck show could have failed to notice how "Green" manufacturers have become, willingly or otherwise. The advent of Austrian noise regulations forced them all to build quieter trucks, and the truck makers have been falling over themselves to tell everybody that their engines meet the latest emission regulations, regardless of whether the regulations are relevant or not. But sadly, judging by the displays at the Birmingham Motor Show, British operators are more interested in power than pollution. To the average operator pollution control equipment weighs more and costs more, and that's the end of the story.
No doubt there are some truly eco-friendly hauliers who are smarting under this attack and resent being tarred with the same brush. But it is not completely cynical to suggest that the high-profile big fleets which are making positive Green noises are well aware that good publicity helps when it's time to renew an 0-licence. If the Government wants to really tackle pollution, be it from cars or CVs, it has to set a clear agenda for solving the problem and that means spending money on, for example, tougher enforcement. When was the last time you saw a truck on the motorway puffing out black smoke being stopped by the police? At least the Government is on the right track when it proposes a campaign to make hauliers more aware of the environmental impact of their businesses. This is particularly relevant in the UK where onceremote hauliers are waking up to find their yards surrounded by houses. It's no good producing a road-friendly, low-emission 38tonner if a driver insists on starting it up every morning at 4am in the middle of a housing estate. The FTA, however, is wrong when it says that the road transport industry "must not be hogtied with green costs when it is facing a recession". Never mind the recession; as far as many hauliers are concerned any time is the wrong time for adopting green practices. It really can't be left to the road haulage industry to be the sole arbiters of what is good or bad when it comes to analysing pollution. The nuclear industry can't get away with it, so why should road haulage?
Adopting tougher environmental regulations must inevitably involve a lot of carrot — and not a little stick besides.