1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168 
Paying the right price
Page 3
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
The Government is afraid to introduce Road User Pricing," thundered Lib Dem shadow transport secretary Norman Baker East week. They're not the only ones frightened by it. According to our Commercial Motor/Michelin reader poll, most hauliers are against any kind of national road pricing or lorry mad user charge. And they've every right to be.
The thought of introducing road pricing for trucks without addressing VED and fuel taxes brings to mind the clarion cry of the early American Colonists: No taxation without representation!" Only for road pricing read: "No taxation without equalisationl" And there's the rub.
Operators might well not like the idea of a lorry road user charge now. But if it was applied to ail trucks including foreigners and also meant a commensurate reduction in UK VED and/or fuel tax rates, we'd probably see more takers for it.
Moreover, how else can anyone expect to curb the exponential growth in nonessential road traffic without some kind of road pricing? What's the alternative? Higher fuel prices? We've had that, and Look what it did to the industry. Perhaps the most interesting result of CM's poll is that 97% of our respondents say they would put up their rates if national road pricing was introduced. Thus, to quote Barry Norman; "And why not?" Indeed, why shouldn't
O. haulage customers and consumers pay the true
cost of 'cheap' mad transport? Saying you plan to put your rates up is one thing, doing it is another. Meanwhile, talk of road pricing isn't going to go away. What the road transport industry needs to ensure is that when t comes to HGVs, any road charging is tax substitutional and not tax
incremental. Nothing less will do. Remember CM's battle cry: -No taxation without equalisation!" Brian Weatherley