RAE insists drivers return WO rebates
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II A group of Scottish ownerdrivers are complaining that a 'love by RMC Readymix Scotland to make them repay the VED rebate they gained last year is harsh and unfair.
One aggregates owner-driver says: "We claimed our rebate last year, which came to roughly £1,165. We have now received a letter from RMC demanding this money back. Surely this can't be right?"
The letter was sent by RMC Readymix Scotland accountant John Smeaton. It states: "The current arrangement to compensate you for the cost of Vehicle Excise Duty is that a figure will be included in your haulage rate equivalent to the cost of your road tax from April 2000 to March 2001. In most cases this was £2,330. When your haulage rate was made up, this amount was included in your haulage rate. When the government gave you a rebate, 21,165 in most oases. in November 2000 this obviously meant that there was too much in your haulage rate."
Following meetings between a drivers' committee and Readymix, the drivers have been given the option of paying £100 a month or having the rebate deducted from their haulage rate in 2001/2.
"We have to lump it," says another angry driver. "At the end of the day they have got us by the proverbials. I'd rather the government had the money instead of RMC."
No one from RMC Readymix Scotland was available to comment as CMwent to press.