LRUC scrapped
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Lorry Road User Charge abandoned as government priorities change to revenue from national road charging cash cow
Under the cover of the G8 summit and 2012 Olympic bid media hype - the government announced that it was abandoning the LRUC in favour of an integrated national road user-charging scheme; which could be introduced in 2015.
The decision took both the industry and LRUC contract bidders by surprise. LRUC bidding companies such as T-Systems were only informed of the move 2-hours prior to the announcement in the House of Commons by Secretary of State Alistair Darling.
In Darling's statement to the House he examined the justifications for national road charging dropping the LRUC bombshell in the final moments of his speech.
Darling said: 'Mr Speaker a great deal of work has already been done on some of these issues in the development of the Lorry Road User Charging scheme. This has confirmed that a distance-based charge has the potential to be a workable and practical way forward.
'But our thinking on national road pricing has developed further. We are now taking forward work on a national system of road pricing, so it is right for us to take forward the plans for distance based lorry charging as part of the wider work on national road pricing - to work for a single comprehensive, cost-effective system.
'So although the current procurement for lorry road user charging will not continue, we will continue to work with industry and ensure that we carry the full experience gained from the project into the wider work to develop a national road pricing system for cars and lorries.
'We will continue to work with the haulage industry to ensure that its needs are represented as we develop a national road pricing system', he concluded.
If parallels can be drawn between the work carried out so far on the LRUC project and last year's MoD support vehicle contract bid, the LRUC contract bidders could have lost up to £2 million in tendering costs and the future of the government appointed LRUC programme team under chief executive Vincent Geake is in the balance.
In a reaction to the announcement the RHA's chief executive, Roger King said: 'The LRUC concept was not perfect but it had the potential to deliver a fuel duty rebate and charging regime for foreign lorries that would establish the longed-for level playing field for UK hauliers.
'The Government claims that this change of policy is the direct result of a manifesto commitment to introduce road pricing for all. But does this supercede a commitment made by the Chancellor to Parliament to introduce the LRUC by 2008?
'The RHA cannot accept that the industry must wait until 2015 (at the very earliest) to level the playing field with foreign truckers. Can we allow these lorries to use our roads in increasing numbers without paying a single penny for their use?
'The game is not over yet', he continued, 'We shall press ministers to continue with the fuel rebate element of the LRUC, thus setting in place the mechanism for its introduction. Meanwhile, we shall press again the case for increasing VAT on diesel fuel, as a substitute for part of the current duty, thus enabling hauliers to recover an increased sum.'
'Finally, we would hope that Government would support the SNP amendment to the current Finance Bill that seeks the introduction of a fuel duty regulator. The RHA hopes to meet the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, John Healey, to re-state the industry's case for immediate help.'
