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WE NEED TAX CUTS, NOT ECONOMIES
Page 10
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One can only assume that transport minister David Jamieson has no idea how professional transport firms operate, the levels of management expertise and driver skill which go into controlling costs and maximising profits. Neither can he have any idea that the UK road transport industry is the leanest and most efficient in the world, so ruthless have been the economic pressures on it in the past few years.
Why else would he advise firms to look at fuel economy schemes before lobbying for a cut in fuel tax (see page 13)? To preach about economies is to avoid the problem; the fact is that other European countries pay far less fuel tax than us -and their truck companies trample all over us as a result. Foreign trucks are more numerous by the day, running on cheaper fuel and paying nothing to support our infrastructure. And they're unlikely to until 2008if the Lorry Road User Charging scheme goes ahead.
Mr Jamieson, if you can't recognise unfair competition when you see it, If you can't see how your government is driving us into the ground, and if you can't see that a cut in fuel tax would help British industry survive and thrive, then we'd suggest you open your eyes, look at what's happening and do something about it now, while there's still a UK truck industry on Britain's roads.
"The UK road transport industry is the leanest and most efficient in the world "
• It's not often the courts produce good news especially where stowaways are concerned. But this week, there is a reason to be cheerful; a Court of Appeal ruling means anyone convicted of bringing in stowaways should be fined substantially less.
It was always madness to insist that drivers earning £300 a week should stump up £17,000 for their part in bringing in stowaways. Now at least there is some sense in the fining structure but it's still not good enough. There may be fewer stowaways coming into the UK, and the fines may be lower but they are still arriving and drivers and truck firms are still being fined for Home Office failures in port security. It can hardly be right or proper that the burden falls solely to them.