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Vehicle movements are dictated by business needs, not taxation levels.
The Freight Transport Association (FTA) is hotly refuting claims made today (1 June 2018) in a report by environmental group Greener Journeys, which claims that a freeze on fuel duty has increased traffic levels. According to FTA’s Head of UK Policy Christopher Snelling, vehicle movements are dictated by business needs, not taxation levels:
“To suggest that a fuel duty level dictates how many vehicles on our roads is, quite frankly, ludicrous. It is the level of economic activity that drives traffic levels, not the level of tax paid on the fuel in their vehicle’s tank,” he says. “This is because, for freight, as for most road users, travelling is not a choice you make dependent on how much it costs, but based on what you need to do. In the case of logistics, we have to supply the goods that Britain needs to run its shops, hospitals, factories and offices every day, and that doesn’t change just because the price goes up. All that does change is more small hauliers and van users go out of business as their profit margins disappear.”
Snelling continues: “The way to improve emissions levels and manage congestion is to create an alternative method for freight to be moved quickly and efficiently across the country. This means making rail freight a more appealing option through increased services levels and improved accessibility to the network, and boost road freight through the use of more environmentally-efficient vehicles, minimising the number that need to be on Britain’s roads. Simply charging more money to the users of our roads, most of whom who have alternative means of doing their daily work, achieves nothing other than placing a direct tax on Britain’s businesses.” Read more
Source: FREIGHT TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION
