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When will we get a level playing field?
Page 28
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I READ WITH the usual disappointment and general disgust that Mr Livingstone is pressing ahead with this extremely unpopular tax on trucks [the London LEZ]. Quite apart from the absurd proposed charge that seems to have been 'grabbed out of the air', I wonder quite what planet these politicians live on. Why is it that they don't ask the wider questions?
Trucks go to London out of necessity to deliver things people want -and for no other reason. No truck operator goes into London to go through to the other side, so why tax a journey born out of necessity to supply its residents?
What proposals have been put in place to capture revenue from the foreign trucks that regularly abuse our roads? Since the EU has opened its borders and welcomed the poorest nations of Eastern Europe into the 'club', we've seen a large increase in the number of older trucks pouring into the UK.This can no doubt be backed up by Vosa, which has started checking the roadworthiness of these trucks at Dover and probably other ports.
Cars-not individually but by volumeare the worst polluters and the only part of the problem that could be persuaded to move to more efficient ways of travelling.
If this ridiculous charge is to he seen as anything other than a tax on business or (as more cynical spectators may suggest) an excuse to raise revenue to assist with the shortfall of funds for the Olympic games, then it has to be levelled at everybody and not just the truck operators who have no choice but to go to London On another note, when will these same blind politicians instigate a road tax or vignette for all foreign trucks using our roads?
We're the only country in Europe that can capture every truck that arrives and leaves our shores and can therefore ensure it has paid the vignette for every day that it has been here, We have to pay an €8a-day road tax for Belgium and Holland and some operators can probably get away with missing a day here and there because they are transit countries to other destinations; but we can catch them all and for very little investment.
It should be noted that your fine magazine regularly reports the increased percentage of foreign trucks travelling through our ports currently 75% of all traffic at Dover, I'm led to understand. I don't have to tell you the damage they are doing to our roads free of charge.
I also see a greater increase in the mess and fouling of motorway service areas due to the fact that these Eastern Europeans drivers can't afford to pay for showers and-I can only assume judging by the amount of excrement at the edges of trailer parks -mistakenly think they have to pay for toilet use as well.
They also cook at the side of their trailers and toss all waste onto the asphalt or hedging around the stops.
This last bit is not just a general rant about foreign truck drivers, many of whom are paid an absolute pittance for long periods of absence from their homes; now they are part of the EU, they should have the same pay structures that are forced onto us to ensure their pricing is more in line with ours.
The point I am making is that they should pay to use our roads, as we have to when using theirs.
Jett Cahill bye-mail