UK - The Road Haulage Association (RHA), which numbers many freight truck companies amongst its membership, have compiled a list of matters which they feel should be addressed by Government after the imminent General Election. The organisation laments a Transport Department that has exchanged Ministers like some professional football club with seven new appointments in the past ten years of Labour rule.
The RHA “blueprint” for the future of UK haulage is as follows:
• Recognise the essential and high quality contribution that the road freight transport industry makes to the UK economy
• Tackle the unfair duty burden faced by the UK haulage industry in comparison with its EU competitors by charging a lower rate of duty on the fuel used by commercial vehicles and by ensuring that foreign vehicles pay for their use of roads in the UK.
• Maintain the government’s financial contribution to enforcement and increase the efforts to remove from the industry those who flout the rules and undermine the health and reputation of the industry as a result.
• Encourage users of haulage services to be more flexible in their required delivery times and particularly to accept more out-of-hours deliveries.
• Maintain planned spending levels on roads, urgently improve road maintenance quality and work to ensure that high standards are set and achieved for local authority roads.
• Encourage local authorities to increase the access of trucks to priority lanes, such as Bus and HOV lanes.
• Implement a new process of active engagement with the RHA and others in identifying how public money can best be spent cost-effectively to improve further the effectiveness of the industry in serving the UK economy.
• Provide adequate resources for Police activities in relation to truck crime and encourage the highest possible level of cooperation across Police Forces.
• Recognise the burden that its duty regime places on the cash flow of transport companies, particularly in the present climate, and take steps to reduce that burden.
Road Haulage Association Chief Executive Geoff Dunning said:
“This is a crucial time for the UK road transport operator, if we are to make a real contribution to economic recovery, we need to have a committed transport team who can support us in our contacts with the Treasury and other parts of Government.
“We are not suggesting that we have all the answers to the UK transport industry crisis however, if the new Government is prepared to work with us on these issues, we are confident that together we CAN make a difference. It is essential that the next Secretary of State for Transport is someone who will actually listen to the voice of this industry as opposed to just hearing it, and will represent the interests of our essential industry to colleagues in Government.”
