Parkinson: no to pricing
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• Transport Secretary Cecil Parkinson has come out firmly against road pricing, describing it as "extremely expensive" and citing several countries which have tried it and since dropped the idea.
Speaking at the Shell and Freight Transport Association's London conference, How Green is Your Transport?, last week, the Transport Secretary cited Sweden, Holland and Hong Kong as having abandoned road pricing schemes — Norway was "the only country in Europe that has any form of pricing", he said.
With 639 million traffic movements a year in London, Parkinson believes other ways of solving the congestion problem will be found before a suitable pricing scheme can be implemented. He stressed the Government's committment to bypasses, with 170 in its road building programme.
Turning to Europe, Parkinson promised the Government will help open up the Community market for cabotage. "I think it is almost outrageous that large numbers of lorries are running around Europe empty on their way back to base", he said.
He urged hauliers to "put to the top of your list of priorities the reduction of fuel consump tion" and said this could be partly achieved by better driver training.
Parkinson's concern on cabotage was echoed by Ruth Frommer from the European Commission who promised an "end to national restrictions on road haulage services" leading to "fewer journeys by empty lorries and less fuel consumption."
But Europe's tough new particulate emission regulations, set to come into force in 1996 will lead to sharp increases for hauliers. The ETA's director of marketing, communications and visiting services Richard Turner warned that particulate traps cost between 23,500 to 29,000 and will add 5% to 8.5% on operating costs. He hoped for a better solution — such as removing particulates at source. "The picture of red hot self igniting dustbins travelling up and down our roads has no engineering elegance," he said.
Tony Stanton, FTA president, called for a move to 44tonne lorries which he claims will lead to 9,000 fewer lorries on the roads, saving 200 million litres of diesel.
But Martin Bradshaw from the Civic Trust worries that lorries will become too big. "We will have reinvented the train," he said, "and we should put them hack on the rails where they belong".