A 10 per cent tariff on commercial vehicles in the event of a no-deal Brexit has been labelled a “tax on quality” that will “hinder the logistics industry contribution to environmental savings”.
Freight Transport Association deputy chief executive James Hookham said: ”There should be no additional financial penalty on buying new vehicles. At a time when vehicle operators are under massive pressure to use newer cleaner vehicles. Operators need incentives to replace trucks quicker not penalties to hinder their purchase.”
Hookham said that the tariffs are ”a tax on quality”, because ”new trucks are the cleanest and safest ever and the government wants to increase their price by three times the rate of inflation”.
“Ministers need to join the dots on their strategies to improve air quality in towns and cities and the costs they are imposing on truck operators because of Brexit. A 10 per cent price increase on new trucks will hinder the logistics industry contribution to environmental savings,” he added.
David Jinks, head of consumer research at international courier ParcelHero, said: “‘The whole logistics industry will be impacted by this new vehicle tariff
“Truck operators such as international couriers and road hauliers usually replace aging trucks in batches, leading to a huge potential price increase of at least £170,000 on an order of 20 trucks. Obviously, that’s an unexpected cost that will have to be paid for somehow.”
By Christopher Walton
