'I fear we will lose work rather than win it. It is becoming a vicious circle'
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6 fter more than 10 years as an
owner-operator I am throwing in the towel in disgust at the imposition next month of yet more taxes on British truckers working on the Continent, including a 3p rise in UK diesel duty. I feel I am already heavily charged both at home and abroad and fear this new burden will make it even harder for British drivers to compete with Continental rivals.
From 1 January it will cost me another £1,000 for the new road tax certificate covering Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands. It already costs me around £12,000 a year to use the roads abroad because of the high cost of tolls in Italy, France and Spain. I don't object to paying tolls for going through the tunnels and crossings—we operate a similar system here with the Severn and Dartford crossings—but I resent the way some countries use weight limits to force trucks on to tolled roads. Foreign drivers who come to this country don't pay motorway tolls, but we get hit when we go to their country. What irritates me is that I am paying £3,100 a year in road fund licence here in the UK and I do not use the roads. My vehicle spends less than 25% of its working time in the UK and most of that time it is parked up. But continental drivers often only pay nominal road Fund licences at home. No wonder they can compete better than us For work both in this country and abroad. In this country the VAT on diesel is paid back on a zarterly basis but Italy has a reputation r taking months longer. I don't reckon Italian drivers have to wait as long for our authorities to pay up. In addition I have to pay an agent 10% to recover my VAT abroad.
I drive a lot in Italy and in my experience Italian authorities are not strong enforcers of the tachograph system, although both the UK and French authorities are.
You can tell that continental drivers' operating costs are considerably lower than ours. I drive a 1986 vehicle, although it is well maintained, but Continental drivers change their vehicles every two years. They have money left to plough back into their business for better equipment.
My impression is that drivers abroad are winning work from us here and on the Continent and I think it will get worse next year as our hauliers take on the additional burden of the Eu ro tax.
Why don't the authorities introduce a fairer taxation system for UK hauliers working internationally based on how long we are in the country? It would be easy to log us going in and out. They could also introduce a daily rate for foreign drivers coming into the country worked out from our £3,100 annual road fund licence.
I believe the whole thing needs reviewing from top to bottom.
I have been in touch with my local MP who has asked me to put together a dossier with as much information as possible but it is difficult as I am on the road so much.
Meanwhile I have been putting pressure on my freight forwarder to raise rates and he has been putting pressure on others but I fear we will lose work rather than win it. It is becoming a vicious circle. There should be a minimum haulage rate—the only people benefiting at the moment are the exporters. I feel I am banging my head against a brick wall so as soon as I find a buyer for my Leyland 17.32 I will be off to drive for someone else and let them stand the headaches.