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A simpler option?

3rd February 2005
Page 20
Page 20, 3rd February 2005 — A simpler option?
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Fory Peer Lord Attlee says the government's plans for Lorry Road User :harging are too complex and too expensive to run. But what is his

alternative? Jennifer Ball finds out.

re government's LRUC scheme aims to create a level playing field between UK lid foreign operators. Currently, oreign hauliers are using large 'mounts of cheap continental liesel to carry out work in the UK, vhich both deprives the UK freasury of revenue and sees UK lauliers facing increasing compeition for domestic work.

The government hopes to have ,,RUC up and running by 2008 Ind is looking at tenders for .upplying the IT system needed to :un the scheme. But LRUC has -eceived fierce criticism from a lumber of people who believe it is oo costly and that the complexity af the system would make it iulnerable to errors and fraud. They fear LRUC would end up ning a liasco like the German LKW-Maut lorry road charging ;cheme, which finally got off the round last month — a year and a 3a1f behind schedule.

Complicated

Tory peer Lord Attlee (pictured) argues that a level playing field could be created far more simply than via the government's current zomplicated proposals. His proposed system would have the same benefits, he says, but would simply require the government to ensure that all goods vehicles, both foreign and UK registered, would have to leave Great Britain with a "nearly full" fuel tank.

It sounds like a simple concept, but runs into two potential issues: Customs & Excise staff could be unwilling to carry out the necessary testing and it could lead to queues of trucks at the ports.

However, Attlee believes not. He argues that the trucks would be checked at the ports by a number of civilian customs staff and, if an infringement is suspected, a Customs and Excise official would take over.

"All Customs have to do is look in the tank to see if it is nearly full and if the operator didn't have enough fuel they would be able to buy it there or they would not be able to leave the port," he says.

There are also concerns that this could lead to anti-competitive fuel prices around the ports. However, Attlee says the tank would not have to be completely full, but sufficiently full that the driver could refuel his vehicle about 40 miles away from the port.

Then there's the Irish question: could the scheme work in Northern Ireland where there are now no border controls and a large number of Northern Irish hauliers travelling south to fill up with cheaper fuel?

Attlee believes this problem could be rectified by standardising the pump price of fuel in Northern and Southern Ireland so that there would be no point in anyone buying fuel in the South.

The Freight Transport Association says it would have welcomed the scheme had it been suggested when the original consultation paper for LRUC was put out in 2001.FTA chief executive Richard Turner says: "It's an attractive option, which has lots of merits especially its simplicity. However, it's too close to the introduction of LRUC to consider this now." •


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