Tolls or roads Ridley tells RHA
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ABOLITION of tolls would cut the amount of money available for the roads programme, Transport secretary Nicholas Ridley told the Road Haulage Association last week.
Mr Ridley was guest speaker at the RHA's annual dinner, and was replying to former national chairman Harold Russett's appeal for tolls to be scrapped from estuarine bridges and tunnels on the trunk road network and for them to be financed by existing tax bills.
But Mr Ridley said that the cash raised by tolls would have to come out of the existing Department of Transport budget, and this would leave less money available for the road programme.
He said that the road programme is proof that the Gov ernment loves the haulage industry, and said the Government had geared up the road programme from the "inadequate" levels inherited in 1979.
Mr Ridley chose the dinner to explain why vehicle excise duty rates had not been cut in the Budget this year. The policy was to ensure that vehicles at least covered their track costs and that the Treasury maintained the revenue from lorries.
Speaking of the £160m surplus paid over track costs, Mr Ridley said: "This substantial margin means that there can no longer be any dispute as to whether lorries cover their track costs.
"Indeed, the tax paid now reflects the environmental effects of lorries — the noise, vibration, pollution and other environmental costs which lorries cause and yet cannot be measured," he said to hauliers' clear disbelief.
Mr Ridley also urged operators to ensure that their vehicles are not overloaded, do not exceed the speed limit or break hours limits.
"Those who habitually flout these rules are not helping me to help you. They provide ammunition for programmes like Brass Tacks (BBC 2) for your critics from the Council for the Protection of Rural England to the Greater London Council's Dave Wetzel."