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The figures don't tally
Page 3
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Its bad enough that UK Road Transport plc has to put up with the slings and arrows of outrageous prejudice from the 'Great British Public'. But when you find out that the Department for Transport [DM has been giving out duff data on the environmental impact of mad freight, it makes you wonder We're referring to the fact that over the past 20 years, the DfT's own official statistics have grossly exaggerated . the growth in CO2 emissions from mad transport. Or as the man who uncovered this, Professor Alan McKinnon. notes: -The industry has been tarnished with some figures that were wildly inaccurate...". And that's putting it mildly.
Meanwhile, CM takes little comfort from the DfT's excuse: -We always use the best information at the time when estimating emissions.Nor from the official statement that -when more information becomes available, or new techniques are developed, we update those statistics-. That's nice of them. Only by now it's too Late. The damage has been done. Those original incorrect figures are doubtless already deeply embedded in several pro-green, pro-rail, anti-road transport websites and taken as the gospel truth by anyone looking for even more mud to sling at the industry. And for the DT to say that all updates are freely available to the public and are published on our vvebsite" doesn't wash.
After the rush by various political leaders to say sorry for Mips' expenses, can we now expect the DfT to apologise to British hauliers for giving environmentalists the (wrong) stick to beat them with? And all this comes just four months before the industry adopts the tightest emissions standards to date with the advent of Euro-5 regulations. It's enough to make you weep.
And finally... goodbye Geoff Hoon.., what more is there to say? Brian Weatherley