New charge for foreign lorries using British roads

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@MARK

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BBC News - New charge for foreign lorries using British roads

Foreign lorries are to be charged up to £1,000 a year to use British roads - in a bid to benefit domestic hauliers.

So whilst I fully support the idea, I can't help thinking that once the French have stopped complaining about it and blocking the ports, I am going to find myself hit with a charge as soon as arrive in Calais in return.
 
Isn't the idea to offset charges that British haulage drivers already pay to use Continental roads? Why would they impose a further charge?
 
What charges do British lorries pay to use Continental roads?

Don't forget that tolls on Autoroutes are paid by all, just like they are on private roads in the UK.
 
What charges do British lorries pay to use Continental roads?

Don't forget that tolls on Autoroutes are paid by all, just like they are on private roads in the UK.

True, but there's an imbalance - we've only got one toll motorway in the UK, and it's in the middle of nowhere. Well, that and a few charges to use bridges. Getting anywhere fast in continental Europe involves paying road tolls.

If foreign-registered lorries have to pay a road charge in the UK, it might give UK-based companies a better chance of winning more transportation contracts here. Continental operators already have an advantage as they can usually refuel more cheaply in France as well.
 
It will raise £20m for the treasury... the rest is just media hype.
 
True, but there's an imbalance - we've only got one toll motorway in the UK, and it's in the middle of nowhere. Well, that and a few charges to use bridges. Getting anywhere fast in continental Europe involves paying road tolls.
On private roads, which ALL vehicles have to pay to use, not just UK ones, so no difference in cost there.
If foreign-registered lorries have to pay a road charge in the UK, it might give UK-based companies a better chance of winning more transportation contracts here. Continental operators already have an advantage as they can usually refuel more cheaply in France as well.

I see lots of continental lorries at motorway filling stations in the UK, so fuel cost isn't the issue.

You appear to be suggesting some Left wing union idea that makes British hauliers cheaper than others.

British hauliers have been running lorries profitably in Continental Europe for decades.
 
On private roads, which ALL vehicles have to pay to use, not just UK ones, so no difference in cost there.

You'd already made that point in your previous post. The difference is between UK drivers having to pay to use motorways on the continent while continental drivers don't have to pay to use (most) motorways here.

I see lots of continental lorries at motorway filling stations in the UK, so fuel cost isn't the issue.

Clearly if they need to cover more distance than their fuel tanks will allow, they have no option but to fill up here, but they will still buy their first tankful in whichever market is cheapest.

You appear to be suggesting some Left wing union idea that makes British hauliers cheaper than others.

Not me - the hauliers. It could be seen a protectionism, but it could also be seen as a levelling of the playing field. The haulage industry may well have been operating profitably for decades, but they are now starting to feel the squeeze.
 
Diesel in the UK tends to be dearer than abroad, so our hauliers struggle to compete with European hauliers who have cheaper fuel in their tanks.
 
I'm unsure of the figures but trucks do pay a levy to use German motorways and the same applies to France and certainly Slovenia. Why shouldn't they pay to use our roads as well since it's trucks that cause the most damage to the surfaces.
 
I think the point is that you can't impose tax within the EU on foreign lorries - or any other tax that is supposed to allow one country's industry to compete against another country's within the EU - but toll charge isn't considered a tax, so essentially the government is looking at this as loophole enabling it to impose tax anyway, i.e. the letter of the law but not the spirit of the law.
 
How will this charge be levied? The example , presumably for a 38 tonne vehicle , is that they will charge ALL vehicles £1000 extra for using the roads, but reduce UK road tax by £1000 so that the net change to a Uk 38 tonne lorry is zero.

Earlier plans were suggesting a daily charge of £10 or £1000 per year. The daily rate rate being obviously dearer.
 
Not if it means that more distribution contracts go to UK-based hauliers, who are effectively exempted from the charge.

Unless, of course, they are still more expensive...;)
 
Unless, of course, they are still more expensive...;)

Yes - I should have qualified my post with "all other things being equal".

But the (declared) point of the charge is to help UK companies compete, so one would hope that their rates would be, erm, competitive.
 
Watch the reduced VED on GB trucks gradually creep up, so eventually the £1000 levy will be "as well as" rather than "instead of".
 
 

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