Scots plan to test flag outs
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• The legal position on flagging out is about to be tested in Scotland following the Vehicle Inspectorate's decision to bring a case against a hauler.
Following months of debate on the mounting controversy about flagging out, the VI has handed a case to the procurator fiscal understood to involve a haulier who had flagged out to Ireland and was not paying UK vehicle excise duty The case was brought following a routine roadside check at the end of August in Stirling.
But the VI admits it has no idea if the procurator fiscal will pursue the case. It's up to them," says a spokeswoman for the VI, which pledged earlier in the year that it would come down hard on anybody who is avoiding UK tax.
Most of the confusion has been sparked by the legal posi tion on partial flagging out— where an international operator pays foreign VED but does not set up a proper base in that country.
Transport lawyer Stephen Kirkbright has long argued that hauliers who register their vehicles abroad but operate them on British Operator's Licences are breaking the law. He has warned that the UK government might decide to prosecute UK hauliers for tax evasion if it decides too many are flagging out to other EU countries.
Freight Transport Association road freight policy manager Don Armour says anything that can clarify flagging out issues is welcome. "There is a' lot of confusion about what you can and can't do," he says. "There have been quite a number of incidents where road haulers have come unstuck."