Inquiry launched by freight leaders

Freight bosses have launched an industry-wide inquiry following the government’s decision to abandon the proposed Lorry Road User Charging scheme.

Under the LRUC scheme, the government planned to tax foreign lorries running on UK roads in a bid to level the playing field for UK operators.

The LRUC would also have provided a framework for separating fuel duty on lorries from duty on cars.

In response, the Freight Transport Association and Road Haulage Association have joined forces and commissioned the Burns Freight Taxes Inquiry in order to assess the effects of high fuel duties on UK transport operators, businesses and the economy.

The inquiry, which will consult members of associations, non-members, academics and other trade organisations, will seek to clarify how much the increasing number of foreign lorries operating on UK roads cost the UK economy.

It also hopes to determine the competitive effect that the higher rates of duty applied to diesel in the UK have on operators compared with the rest of Europe. By doing this, it wants to identify new policy remedies that the industry should seek from the government.

Richard Turner, FTA chief executive, said: “It’s highly significant that the FTA and the RHA have come together to sponsor this unique exercise. The industry has been very badly let down by the government and we must now do all in our power to achieve an equitable environment for our industry to operate in and which recognises our absolute value to the UK economy.”