Transport Select Committee publishes road user charging report Item Added 28 July 2009The Government must improve the way in which it justifies taxes on road users to rebuild public trust, the Transport Select Committee said in its report Taxes and charges on road users, launched on 24 July 2009.
In the report committee members said that they believe taxation should be based on car usage not car ownership, as this is a fairer approach to the issues of congestion and carbon emissions.
The report recognises the issue of FRVs and refers to the evidence given by the SPARKS Network. It recommends, in the absence of plans to introduce road pricing for cars, that the government resurrect proposals for a low-cost pay-per-mile charge for UK and foreign heavy goods vehicles.
Without some form of toll or vignette system the committee concluded that UK freight operators will continue to face unfair competition from foreign-registered vehicles able to take advantage of cheaper diesel.
Nick Lester, Chair of the SPARKS Network and Corporate Director of Services at London Councils gave oral evidence to the committee inquiry. He was asked about lost revenues from FRVs not paying road charges and said:
“Overall in London we estimate that for parking and similar charges between £8-12 million a year is lost from foreign-registered vehicles. Congestion charging is a similar amount and if you turn that into the economic effect, not just the ?nancial effect, you can double that again, so overall it may be as much as £50 million a year in economic disbene?ts because effectively foreign registered vehicles are immune from enforcement on congestion charging, parking and traffic regulation.”
SPARKS written submission highlighted the challenges of implementing and enforcing road charging and road taxes against foreign-registered vehicles, including access to ownership data and penalty payment collection.
Announcement of the report
Full text of the report including oral evidence and written submissions |
