'Hauliers will leave UK'
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by Rob Wino&
• British hauliers will emigrate en masse if the Government continues to increase its tax burden on the industry.
This is the threat from the Road Haulage Association, which says it will advise its members to relocate to other EU countries if, as expected, the Government's Vehicle Excise Duty review doubles the duty for 2+3 artics.
Director-general Steven Norris says: "If this occurs then this association would have no option but to advise its members to relocate their businesses outside the UK."
The RHA has taken legal advice on this matter and believes that companies could re-register (or "flag out") their vehicles abroad if they set up an operating centre in the country of registration and their vehicles visited it occasionally.
Such hauliers would effec
tively be copying shipping lines by operating under flags of convenience. If enough UK operators moved their bases abroad VED revenue from HGVs could actually fall, rendering the duty increase a false economy.
The RHA says the idea came from its members—mostly international operators in the South-East—but it believes the scheme could benefit domestic operators too. "The odd trip abroad a year per vehicle would not be very difficult— plus they would come back full of cheap fuel," it says.
• Enfield-based garment haulier DTS Logistics, which operates more than 100 CVs, was considering registering its vehicles at its Dutch depots to avoid British operating costs even before last month's White Paper. "The disparity in VED, fuel duty, licensing and enforcement will cause operators like me to relocate elsewhere," managing director Mike Daly told delegates at a European transport conference in June. "As the gap gets wider, people will start shopping around."
• Vince Andrews of Humberside haulier Parkland International says: "We're thinking of saying 'sod this country' and moving to Holland. You just can't compete here—the UK doesn't have a single advantage."