Speak now
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This early in the parliamentary recess, the Minister of Transport is busily engaged in projects which will demand parliamentary time early in the next session. Probably the most important item to operators is the consultative document released last week which discusses track costs.
It has all been said before. All but the smallest proportion of vehicles pay their track costs and many pay more. There are those, of course, who will argue that the track costs do not include a social cost. This they regard as a justifiable financial penalty for running a heavy lorry on roads that were built for that very purpose.
There can be no doubt that any additional tax must be passed on to the consumer in haulage charges. But how can additional track costs be justified when the road-building programme has been savagely cut? Mr Fowler will not be so naive as to be caught up in the environmental argument. Nor is he likely to be persuaded by arguments unsupported by hard facts. The industry must prepare its case well.
Interested parties are identified by the Establishment as those who belong to institutional bodies. There are over 100,000 operators who are not so organised. The Minister must hear their voice on this and every other issue.