Foreign lorry charge passed into law
The HGV Road User Levy Act 2013, whose effect will be to charge foreign trucks for the use of UK roads, has received royal assent and been passed into law, shortly before Transport Operator‘s March edition went to press.
The law, which will take effect from April 2014, will levy a time-based charge of up to £1,000 a year or £10 a day on all trucks weighing more than 12 tonnes.
Because European law prevents individual governments from discriminating between domestic and foreign vehicles, the charge will apply to all lorries – but for UK operators the levy will be offset by a reduction in their vehicle excise duty (VED).
In the House of Commons on 29 January, roads minister Stephen Hammond reassured MPs that the impact on UK operators would therefore be minimal.
“It is clear,” he said, “that 98 per cent of the fleet in the United Kingdom will be less than £50 worse off. In fact, very few people will be worse off as a result of the Bill.”
Domestic operators will pay the levy every year or six months for each lorry, within the same transaction as VED is paid. Foreign hauliers will be able pay on a daily, weekly, monthly or annual basis.
Non-payment will be a criminal offence liable to a fine of up to £5,000. The Department for Transport said enforcement methods would include use of DVLA records, ANPR cameras, and VOSA roadside checks. VOSA will also be able to issue on-the-spot fixed penalties of £200 to non-compliant drivers, and take financial deposits from drivers based outside the UK.
In order to determine the road user levy payable on each type of vehicle, the scheme will use the seven-band system currently used to calculate VED (see table), which is intended to reflect the damage inflicted on roads by different types of vehicle. Details of which vehicles fall into which VED bands as they applied from April 2012 can additionally be found here:
Minister Hammond said of the new rules: “Every year there are around 1.5 million trips to the UK by foreign registered lorries but none of them pays to use our roads, leaving UK businesses and taxpayers to foot the bill. In contrast, when UK hauliers travel abroad then in most cases they have to pay to use the roads.
“This new act will help the UK logistics industry remain competitive by making sure that operators from abroad are paying towards the cost of building and maintaining the UK’s roads as well as creating a level playing field for domestic operators.”
The Freight Transport Association was among the first organisations to welcome the Act. The original conditions of FTA’s support for the scheme were that the cost of the levy for UK operators must be recompensed by VED reductions; that the cost and administrative burden of paying must be no greater than that involved in acquiring a VED disc; and that meaningful penalties must be available for operators found evading the charge.
James Hookham, FTA managing director of policy and communications, said: “FTA has supported the idea of a charge on foreign vehicles for many years as a way of partly addressing the competitive differences between British registered operators and foreign-registered vehicles. There were important conditions attached to our support to avoid additional costs and burdens falling on UK operators, as the charge could not be applied to foreign vehicles alone, and, so far, these have been met.
“The next key event is the Chancellor’s Budget Statement on 20 March when the new reduced Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) rates will be announced. We will be watching to make sure that UK operators are not disadvantaged.”
