PAYING A HEAVY PRICE
Page 24
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
"We're shattered here. We're supposed to be in the Common market but we're having to compete with the Dutch with our hands tied behind our backs."
If you want an example of what's wrong with Europe take a look at the case of heavy haulier John Golding (News Headlines, page 4). Having worked regularly for a British manufacturer carrying silos over to the Continent, Golding has been told that his services are no longer needed. His customer has found a Dutch operator who can do it cheaper. Why did our man lose out? The answer, quite simply, is road tax. Last March the Chancellor clobbered Special Types operators with a twostage £1,750 jump in vehicle excise duty. The second stage (£750) is due next month and it finally broke the camel's back. Having been asked for a 12.5% rate increase to help offset the 65% hike in VED Golding's client decided to go Dutch.That can't be a rare occurrence—on average UK operators pay more more in fuel duty and VED than their Dutch counterparts. He who has lower costs can offer lower rates, and in the depths of a recession even the most loyal of customers is bound to look at the bottom line. The upshot of it all is that Golding may have to make some drivers redundant and sell some trucks. Dutch hauliers are doubtless seen by their government as a valuable part of the economy because they are given the tools they need to do the job. Our grey-suited men at the Treasury seem to take a different view. Far from setting VED at a level that makes UK hauliers competitive with other EC operators it seems intent on hobbling them. And to add insult to injury it doesn't even spend the extra cash raised by VED on road building. In its response to the Government's Green paper Paying for better Motorways the Freight Transport Association estimates that road tax revenue for 1993/94 will be £16.35bn, while the road costs attributable to road users will amount to £6.17bn. That leaves a "surplus" of £10.18bn. We're sure the 89,000 UK 0licence holders battling to get any kind of rate increase wouldn't say no to a rebate. While Special Types operators may have got off lightly in the past when it comes to road tax they certainly didn't deserve a 65% increase, especially as their multi-axle vehicles are likely to create far less road wear—we don't like the word "damage"—than a new 35-tonne fouraxle artic. In the short term that huge rise in road tax will raise a few bob for the Treasury's coffers; maybe they'll spend the money on social security payments for redundant drivers. If Golding's plight is anything to go by maybe the Germans had it right after all with their anti-cabotage cry of "No liberalisation without harmonisation." And who do you think they were most scared of? The Dutch. Level playing field? We've got news for all those those proEuropean Ministers who keep blathering on about the "Challenge of Europe." From the British haulier's perspective Europe is about as level as the North face of the Eiger.