Foreign lorry drivers to be charged £10 to use our roads
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by political editor Paul
Francis
Foreign lorry drivers could face a £10
toll to use motorways in a move that could help boost funding for
key transport projects in the region and pay for repairs to damaged
roads.
The government is planning to consult
on introducing a British equivalent of the European vignette system
in which foreign drivers will have to pay a fee to use roads.
The idea of a toll for HGVs has long
been backed by county transport chiefs and MPs in the county, who
believe it could be a way of helping fund major schemes such as a
lorry park for Operation Stack and a new Thames crossing.
There are also hopes that more money
could come Kent’s way to pay for repairs and maintenance of roads
that are seeing growing numbers of foreign hauliers.
But the Kent Green party said any
scheme should be used to encourage HGVs off the roads and to use
other forms of transport. It also said money should not be used to
pay for projects that would see more lorries on the road
network.
Spokesman Steve Dawe said: "Any money
accrued from such a scheme has to go on road repairs, however long
it may take. Road projects take very large sums of money to deliver
relatively small things whereas you can do more to promote
sustainable transport solutions using small sums across a large
area."
Cllr Bryan Sweetland, KCC’s cabinet
member for transport, said: "We have to continue to lobby the
transport minister to get a proportion of that money into Kent to
increase maintenance and sort out some of the damage foreign
lorries have caused."
Foreign hauliers drive around the UK
for free, while UK firms pay road tolls or daily rates to drive
across Europe.
Under any scheme, every lorry driver
would have to pay a toll fee but British hauliers would get a
refund.
Liam Northfield, from the Freight
Transport Association, said: "The devil's in the details. How it
works remains to be seen.
"What's very important is that we
don't increase costs on domestic hauliers becuase they are paying
far more for fuel than those on the continent."
Wednesday, January 25 2012
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