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Heavier tax on lorries?
Page 7
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HEAVIER taxes on lorries, toll roads, and rush-hour lorry bans could come in the near future, according to Worthing Conservative MP Terence Higgins.
Speaking in Liverpool this week, Mr Higgins, who is chairman of the Conservative transport committee, echoed Transport Minister Norman Fowler's party conference warning that there are plans afoot to make the heaviest class of lorries pay more toward their track costs as these are the only goods vehicles which generally are reckoned not tomeet them, Other proposed legislation — likely to be in next session's Transport Bill — is the privatisation of the British Transport Docks Board, tightening up of the breathalyser war by removing the technical defences, and the introduction of a points system to replace the totting-up method of driving offences.
Mr Higgins also suggested that the Government is taking a long hard look at toll roads as a means of generating more revenue from road traffic. Said Mr Higgins: "Even two or three toll booths on strategic roads would make a significant contribution to road maintenance."
Another idea he thought worthy of consideration was the separation of lorries and commuter traffic at peak periods by using removable width restrictions on open roads, effectively banning lorries during the commuter rush hour.
Referring to the 1980 Transport Act, Mr Higgins said that the denationalisation of the National Freight Company had not aroused much emotion in the House because, unlike British Rail, the NEC held only ten per cent of the transport market.