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Of geese and golden eggs...
Page 9
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"Swingeing increases in charges, tolls and levies on transport users"— fancy a bit of that? No, we didn't think so. But this is exactly what you could soon face, according to Conservative MEP Philip Bradboum, who predicts a 15% increase in UK costs if the European Parliament gets its way with plans for more transport taxes throughout Europe.
Quite who they think can actually afford the threatened 15% increase in total costs, we're not sure. And the rationale behind the plan—that it would fund action on congestion, pollution, road wear and other infrastructure costs—also fails to add up in the UK, given the existing discrepancy between the amount of money already extracted from road users and the far smaller amount ploughed back in to the system.
Some suggest the proposed commitment to common charging policies could turn out to be a good thing, at long last levelling that alltoo-uneven playing field. Maybe so.
But if they're wrong, a cost increase on this scale would decimate large parts of the haulage community, forcing the authorities to look elsewhere for the money they say they need to pay these bills. Haven't they heard the one about the goose and the golden egg?
• Another serious threat to costs has emerged with the European Court ruling that time spent travelling to pick up a truck other than at its normal operating centre must be counted as working time.
The implications are enormous. Between this and the now certain application of the working time regs to transport, there will soon, quite literally, not be enough hours in the day to get anything worthwhile done...