RHA slams Gateshead market levies
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• Plans to charge hauliers an entry fee at the North East Wholesale Fruit and Vegetable Market at Gateshead have been strongly criticised by the RHA's Agricultural Group.
Market administrators want to bring in a system of vehicle levies from September. The proposed fees range from 25 for occasional entry to 250 for six months, or 2100 for a year's access.
However Group Secretary Phil Bond says these amounts are significantly higher than entry fees already imposed at London's New Covent Garden — the only other fruit and vegetable market to levy hauliers — which charges 22 for occasional entry and 250 for a six month permit.
Despite claims by the mar ket that charges are being introduced "to safeguard the interests of bona-tide traders'', CM understands that money collected from hauliers would be spent on general maintenance of the market.
Bond has written to the Market's administrators saying that few operators will be able to pass on the charge to the senders of produce for whom they work. The sender may seek other trade outlets, further accelerating the drift away from traditional markets, The RHA claims that hauliers should not be penalised with a charge for which they will gain no benefit. If maintenance costs increase then market traders should pay the costs and recoup them through their own pricing.