Why are we weighting?
Page 9
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
However you view the government's ic)-year transport spending plan, it's got to be good news for hauliers. Apart from the /59bn now committed to road improvements, there is the proposal about creeper lanes and, at last, a firm date for the introduction of 44-tonne vehicles for general haulage.
What a shame, then, that we've no idea what the VED rate for these larger vehicles will be. Until this is decided, vehicle buyers' hands will remain tied because nobody will be able to work out if the 44-tonne limit will be more or less profitable than the existing 38, 40 and 41-tonne options.
If it's already proved worthwhile for you to move to 41 tonnes on six axles, this may not be too serious. But if you're one of the many to delay the move in anticipation of the 44tonne limit, you're still stuck.
You might well assume that having decided to raise the maximum vehide weight, the government will encourage a move towards it with a preferential level of VED. But given the government's record on deciding "sensible" VED rates, are you really prepared to risk the investment in three-axle tractors?
Come on, Mr Prescott—finish what you've started and give us the full picture on 44-tonne operation so hauliers can, for once, make a properly informed decision about which strategy to adopt • Are you owed money by a failed company? A pilot scheme being introduced by the Insolvency Service might produce a silver lining for your doud (see news story, above left).
Let's hope the pilot is successful and is extended nationwide to finally allow hauliers to extract payment from those individuals who cynically and ruthlessly seek to exploit them.