AT THE HEART OF THE ROAD TRANSPORT INDUSTRY.

Call our Sales Team on 0208 912 2120

Trade groups slam ew fuel duty hike

14th December 2006
Page 6
Page 6, 14th December 2006 — Trade groups slam ew fuel duty hike
Close
Noticed an error?
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.

Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Just when we thought the government had accepted the case for no further cost increases along comes another fuel duty rise. Dylan Gray reports.

THE TRADE ASSOCIATIONS have branded Chancellor Gordon Brown's increase in fuel duty as another government "revenueraising exercise".

Brown raised duty by 1.25p/lit in his pre-Budget Report last Wednesday (6 December).describing it as a "green tax". This ended a threeyear freeze on fuel duty The Freight Transport Association (ETA) says the rise will cost the road haulage industry an additional £170m per year.

Road Haulage Association chief executive Roger King dismisses the rise as "another revenueraising exercise-. He says it will not deter people from driving. He adds: "The competitiveness of the UK haulage industry is suffering again because we're being treated the same as leisure motorists.

-This increase should be neutralised by rebating 1.25p per litre to the industry. This is a step towards many operators going out of business. Although this increase [in itself] should not put anyone out of business,'green tax' always goes up and we see further increases to come."

ETA chief economist Simon Chapman agrees: "The Chancellor is only extracting money from the industry. [Me increase] has no connection with demand management and it puts back the idea of road pricing by at least three years.

"In addition. Vehicle Excise Duty is not longer rebated for F.uro-4 vehicles as they are now mandatory which means there are absolutely no savings to be made."

The rise is seen as a major snub to the associations, who thought they had made their case for no further cost increases through the Road HaulageTask Group—which published its report on the same day (see Investigation. page 26).

Operators are reacting angrily to the rise. Gerry Jones, boss of Cwmcarn-based Gerry Jones Transport Services, says: "It's an absolute disgrace. It's just another form of tax and it means the industry is haemorrhagingjobs.

-The haulage industry should be entitled to a rebate. We need a proper integrated transport policy which treats the haulage industry separately from normal traffic."


comments powered by Disqus