East Anglia operators wary of A14 toll plans
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By Chris Tindall
MAKING DRIVERS pay for using the A14 because the government can't afford the construction bill amounts to a tax on companies in East Anglia, business leaders have warned.
CMfound hauliers are wary of the proposals to put a toll on a new, 12-mile section of the A14 near Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire, revealed earlier this month.
Protests against tolls have already begun, with the Road Haulage Association launching a campaign and a Suffolk businessman starting an e-petition demanding that the toll is shelved.
John Bridge, ex-haulier and chief executive at Cambridgeshire Chambers of Commerce, said the toll was being used as a replacement for the fuel escalator.
"The argument that they need additional funds for the A14 is stretching the imagination; it's only going to raise £25m-£30m per annum, which is peanuts in relation to the cost of the overall scheme," he said.
Matthew Ashworth, MD at Goldstar Transport in Felixstowe, said it was running 200 lorries a day along the A14. "I would be happy with a toll road if it was an alternative to the other road. There will be a toll road, and that's it," said Ashworth. Meanwhile, Maritime Transport warned the charge
would increase the cost of operating in East Anglia and that imposing a toll was not a solution to road funding. "Our experience is that it is extremely inefficient and costly in terms of collection," said a spokesman.
The government's plans have also drawn fire from the Labour shadow transport minister Maria Eagle, who cast doubt over a toll road under a Labour government at this week's Labour Conference.
"What they have come up with isn't convincing; we would certainly want to look at whether or not what they are proposing is the right way forward," said Eagle.
However, Barry Dorling at Bury St Edmundsbased Barry J Dorling Transport said he would be willing to pay as much as £10. He said: "You save in terms of time and a bit of fuel. In 30 minutes [of traffic] you would lose a gallon of fuel."