'No increase likely'
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LY EIGHTEEN people, CM's reporter and two interlopers from Freight Transport Association included, braved the night air to md a fringe meeting held in Brighton by Transport 2000, after FTA's better-attended session aversham MP Roger Moate, foot from the FTA meeting, he understood the impati;e of the industry which has in "tantalised by heavier lor;", but said it would be noth short of political lunacy for Government to try to inase lorry weights in its last ir before a general election.
ie said he accepted that many ge fleet operators would iefit from being able to carry ivier loads in their vehicles, I so reduce their fleets, but d: "Our job as politicians is to t the balance right. We must ablish a price to the economy a whole."
Ar Moate was prepared to cept the FTA's figure of 50m a year in savings, but Id this only amounted" to a lth of a penny in the Et and it a much greater saving to iustry could arise from a 10p 20p cut in tax paid on derv. And he went on to suggest it a £150m a year saving in erating costs could be wiped t by increased dery costs, hide excise duty changes, or an alteration in the calculations of track costs.
UB Distribution Services' Alan West said that the transport industry does not want a hand-out from the Government in the form of dery tax relief. "This saving comes from a genuine increase in efficiency," he said.