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Robbin' vatman?
Page 19
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SCOTTISH hauliers look like giving cautious support to a proposal that operators on offshore islands be exempted from vat on petrol and derv.
Road Haulage Association Scottish secretary Tom Brattin was commenting on a Highlands and Islands Development Board plea that the Scottish Office follow this line in order to heIp reduce the price burden on Western and Northern Isles residents.
While he accepted that there was merit to the idea, he said he hoped it would be confined to operators operating on the islands, and would not apply to those running on to the mainland. Otherwise, he said anomalies could arise, and established mainland operators might suffer as a result.
HIDB chairman Rear Admiral David Dunbar-Nasmith said last week: "Exemption of petrol and diesel from vat in the islands would be a practical step which would recognise and alleviate to some extent the increased costs of living and working on islands, which have been relatively greater than on the mainland.
The Board believes that the cost of living is between 15 and 30 per cent higher on the islands than elsewhere in Scotland.