COMMEN'T
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OF ROCKS AND HARD PLACES...
Fancy a change? Fed up with the view outside your window? Good! Because if the Road Haulage Association has got it right you may need to relocate quite soon now. The fact that conditions in the UK have deteriorated to the point where anyone could seriously suggest hauliers would do well to emigrate, or at least register abroad, is a disgrace. Yet not only has the idea been seriously suggested, it's being seriously considered by operators pressed so hard that they just don't know what else to do. And who can blame them? The continued failure of the authorities to announce the VED rate for 2+3 artics at 40 tonnes and 3+3s at 41 tonnes makes buying a new vehicle a game of Russian Roulette—with effects just as terminal for the players who get it wrong. It seems that the DOT won't get around to publishing the new VED rates until October or even November—just a few short weeks before 40/41-tonners become legal. Even the dimmest Whitehall pen-pushers should be able to comprehend the chaos that such unjustifiable wavering will cause out here in the real world. In theory, of course, European har monisation will one day level the playing field on VED, fuel costs and all the other factors that make international competition so difficult for UK-based operators. Whether, when that day finally arrives, there will be any UK hauliers left to welcome it is another matter altogether. Place your bets...