Misplaced Pages

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48-641: The Road Haulage Association Ltd ( RHA ) is a private company limited by guarantee dedicated to the interests of the road haulage industry. It is the only trade association in the United Kingdom dedicated solely to road haulage. As a trade association, the RHA is responsible for campaigning, advice, training, information and business services for its members within the UK haulage industry, including audits, risk assessments and contracts of employment. The RHA head office

96-476: A charge per mile has been raised as a concern by some environmentalists, as has any diversionary response from heavily trafficked (and hence more expensive) roads. The UK government announced funding for road pricing research in seven local areas in November 2005. In June 2005, Transport Secretary Alistair Darling announced the current proposals to introduce road pricing. Every vehicle would be fitted with

144-428: A daily licence system, managed either by a remote wireless automatic identification of the vehicle, or by a meter mounted inside the vehicle, which could track both driving charges and parking. They recommended a tamper-proof credit or pre-payment meter inside the car, as with the technology available at the time, any external recording mechanism would require expensive equipment for tracking and book keeping and threaten

192-673: A few others on more minor roads. In 2012 the government announced that it was consulting on introducing a heavy goods vehicle (HGV) road user charging scheme, known as the 'HGV Road User Levy' in order to ensure that foreign hauliers make a contribution towards the upkeep of British roads. The HGV Road User Levy Bill, legislation to introduce a time based charging scheme, was brought into Parliament in October 2012, and subsequently passed, receiving Royal Assent in February 2013. The levy scheme will charge all HGVs weighing 12,000 kg or more

240-589: A framework for the responsible collection of personal data in the UK, the privacy concerns identified in the Smeed report were not addressed by the London scheme, with fears expressed over mass surveillance and abuse of the systems . There are also the following traditional toll roads in Great Britain in operation: M6 Toll , Clifton Suspension Bridge , Humber Bridge , Mersey Tunnels , Tyne Tunnel and

288-515: A number of the then-controversial safety concepts that the RRL had been investigating, such as speed limits and breathalyzers . She appeared to become an advocate of road pricing per the Smeed Report and publicly criticised the construction of new urban motorways as "self-defeating", during a tour of US cities, slowing down the UK's future urban road building programme as a consequence. However,

336-613: A petition of nearly 2 million signatories on the 10 Downing Street website. In an article in the Sunday Times in December 2007, the author describes how he believes that the failure of the London scheme, in terms of value for money, could undermine the Government's desire to convince other parts of the UK to introduce similar schemes. The scheme was rejected in a public referendum in February 2005. A scheme similar to

384-410: A proposed national scheme for the UK, with an aim to implementation at the earliest around 2013. In October 2005 the UK government suggested they explore "piggy-backing" road pricing on private sector technologies, such as usage based insurance (also known as pay-as-you-drive, or PAYD). This method would avoid a large-scale public sector procurement exercise, but such products are unlikely to penetrate

432-424: A remote system based on CCTV and automatic number plate recognition . The costs of tracking and billing are very large; for the remote monitoring of the London scheme the majority of the income raised is absorbed by the costs. There are suggestions that a wireless "tag and beacon" scheme could be introduced as a potentially better and cheaper alternative. Although the more recent Data Protection Act now gives

480-426: A satellite receiver to calculate charges, with prices (including fuel duty) ranging from 2p per mile on un-congested roads to £1.34 on the most congested roads at peak times. A 2007 online petition against road pricing attracted over 1.8 million signatures, equivalent to 6% of the entire driving population. Over 150,000 signatures were added during the last day before the petition closed on 20 February 2007. In reply,

528-454: A significant loss of revenue from motoring taxes, estimated at £13 billion by 2029 at current prices, according to forecasts by the Office for Budget Responsibility . This revenue decline is partly due to improved vehicle efficiency and the growth of plug-in electric vehicles . Among the options available to the government to offset the loss, a further increase of the duty on petrol and diesel or

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576-571: A system of 19 wireless AutoPASS -enabled entrypoints with toll booths, and it was not designed as a congestion charge. Instead it is a hypothecated tax or fund-raising mechanism to pay for new roads, in the first instance, and public transport more latterly. It was not until 2002 that the principle was re-adopted in Britain, with legislation passed to allow the first schemes to be implemented in Durham and then London , with consideration given to

624-501: A variable Electronic Road Pricing structure on expressways and through gateways into the central business district with pricing based on time and congestion levels. It aims to reduce congestion, encourage the use of public transport, car pooling, less congested alternative routes and different times of travel. A cordon based charging scheme has also been running in the city centre of Oslo , Norway since 1990. However, this differs in some key respects from Smeed's scheme, as it relies on

672-502: Is an annual series of events aimed at educating school-age children, promoting a career in logistics for students, and raising awareness of the industry that delivers 85% of the economy to the general public. This article about a professional association is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . HGV Road User Levy Act 2013 Road pricing in the United Kingdom used to be limited to conventional tolls in some bridges, tunnels and also for some major roads during

720-684: Is due to be introduced from April 2014. Under the scheme, the largest heaviest vehicles will pay up to £10 per day, or £1,000 per year to use roads in the UK. The levy was suspended in August 2020 as a measure to support hauliers affected by the coronavirus pandemic , but levy payments will be resumed on 1 August 2023. In a speech in April 2012 the Prime Minister, David Cameron spoke of the urgent need to fund more road construction, proposing road tolling for new roads as one answer. He also mentioned

768-652: Is located in Peterborough, and other offices are found in Bathgate and Cleckheaton. It currently has over 7,000 members who, between them, operate 100,000 commercial vehicles. The RHA is also the publisher of the magazine Roadway . The current managing director of the RHA is Richard Smith. A previous iteration of the RHA existed from 1932 to 1935, and had 9,000 members. This was renamed the Associated Road Operators, which went on to merge with

816-466: The 2010–2015 coalition government together with a suggested new ownership and financing model to fund new road construction. In the 1960s the Smeed Report considered how to implement congestion charging. In September 2002, the Durham congestion charge , England's first congestion charging scheme was introduced. It was restricted to a single road in that city, with a £2 charge. In 2003

864-581: The Adam Smith Institute who encouraged Roth to revisit his earlier analysis in 1992, when he noted that "the idea of charging for the use of congested roads is still hypersensitive, and many politicians avoid the subject studiously." After Roth analysed its congestion problems for the World Bank Singapore adopted many of the ideas originally identified in the Smeed Report, introducing its first Restricted Zone in 1975. It uses

912-455: The London congestion charge was introduced. In November 2003, Secretary of State for Transport Alistair Darling said that despite apparent initial interest from many city councils, including those of Leeds , Cardiff , Manchester , Birmingham and Bristol , no city apart from Edinburgh had yet approached the Government for assistance in introducing a charge. The Western Extension of

960-591: The London low emission zone which is a pollution charge scheme only affecting trucks with less efficient engines entering London; and the M6 toll , the only existing toll road on a strategic road in the UK. The Dartford crossings toll was retained as a demand management tool in 2003. The various local and any national road pricing schemes were promoted by the 1997–2010 Labour government which were then abandoned following strong public opposition. A heavy goods vehicle (HGV) road user charging scheme had been proposed by

1008-543: The World Bank in 1967, citing the delays and the mutation of the pricing scheme from an enabling investment-raising mechanism into a method of restriction. The Smeed Report remained influential elsewhere, with economist Maurice Allais following up this work in 1965 with a report for the EEC that recommended rail and road privatisation to allow the operation of free market forces across Europe's roads and railways, and with

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1056-571: The British Road Research Laboratory (RRL) and included 11 economists and engineers, including: The taxation system in operating at the time was based on the Salter Report into road and rail transportation from 1933. The principles laid down were that "The road user should pay the costs that he imposes upon others", namely the following: The operational requirements should be the following: The results of

1104-705: The Commercial Motor Users’ Association in 1945 and form what is the Road Haulage Association today. In 1948, the RHA published RHD20, a rate schedule for its members, which was followed up in 1960 by the Black Book – The Long Distance Rates Guide . This was a publication with around 140,000 recommended rates for hauliers. The passing of the Restrictive Trade Practices Act 1974 , however, meant that

1152-480: The Conservative opposition. A Treasury progress report was published in 2002 followed by a second report in 2003. In 2005 the government announced that it was halting the development of the scheme and would be progressing with the development of a National road pricing scheme covering all vehicles, a scheme which was itself abandoned in 2009. Primary legislation, titled 'The Heavy Goods Vehicles (Charging for

1200-517: The London congestion charge was introduced in 2007 (and withdrawn on 1 January 2011). In July 2008, the Drivers' Alliance was established, an organisation which has subsequently campaigned against the introduction of a number of schemes. There are no multiple zones in operation in the UK; when it was decided to extend congestion charging from central London to include the West End of London, there

1248-504: The RHA could no longer make recommendations to members on how rates should be increased to match costs, and the Black Book was discontinued. Campaigns that the RHA has been involved with on behalf of its members include: Increasing Speed Limits – In 2015, the speed limit for vehicles weighing over 7.5 tonnes was increased from 40 mph to 50 mph. HGV Road User Levy – The HGV Road User Levy Act 2013 , which aimed to reduce

1296-671: The Use of Certain Infrastructure on the Trans-European Road Network was however enacted in 2009' in response to an EU Directive . Edinburgh City Council proposed a congestion zone, but this was rejected in a postal referendum by around 75% of voters in Edinburgh. Unlike in London, where Ken Livingstone had sufficient devolved powers to introduce the charge on his own authority, other cities would require

1344-643: The Welsh Government powers to introduce charging schemes on different roads across Wales. This has, however, met strong opposition from the Welsh Conservative Party, of whom disagree with all possible toll charges being applied on Welsh roads and has been a strong point in their 2021 Senedd election campaign, especially in North Wales . The Labour administration first proposed HGV road user charging in 2000 with encouragement for

1392-587: The confirmation of the Secretary of State for Transport. Manchester proposed a peak time congestion charge scheme which would have been implemented in 2011/2012. This was rejected in a referendum held on 12 December 2008 by over 70% of voters. Plans for similar charges in both the West Midlands and East Midlands have also been rejected. The government has proposed a nationwide scheme of road tolls, but public opposition has been fierce and included

1440-498: The day. A simple national colour-coded scheme could be used to indicate the charge rate in force at that time or to allow different charging zones to exist side by side. They recognised that traditional toll collection methods would not be practical in city centres, where the road layout had not been designed to provide natural gateways into the tow, and where the demolition and land required for toll booths or toll plazas would be unacceptable. Instead, they investigated charging through

1488-599: The existing motoring taxes. Under this strategy drivers in the countryside would be likely to pay less, as rural motorists are currently overtaxed according to the study. In January 2021, the Welsh Government consulted on introducing possible charges on trunk roads and motorways across Wales as part of their White Paper on a Clean Air (Wales) Bill. The charges would likely apply across Wales and apply numerous emissions-based charges across numerous vehicle categories. The bill directly gives both local authorities and

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1536-486: The full report to the public and took its time to consider it. It was rumoured that the Prime Minister, Sir Alec Douglas-Home , had suggested to "take a vow that if we are re-elected we will never again set up a study like this one". Events took over, and two elections were fought in 1964 and 1966 with transport as a major election issue, resulting in a new Wilson government with Barbara Castle as Minister of Transport . A large majority enabled her to bring into law

1584-636: The good that could come about by using the money from such a scheme was frequently overshadowed by a vision of the restraints and penalties levied on the motorist. The report was received with ambivalence by the Macmillan government , which had commissioned it: the Ministry reported in June 1964 that it would first need to study the implications and thus the government was "therefore in no way committed to this form of restraint". It initially withheld release of

1632-454: The introduction of new taxes on alternative energy sources such as electricity for vehicles were considered. However, due to lack of popularity of the former and the risks of hindering the entire green vehicle strategy, the IFS study recommended to introduce a nationwide system of road pricing to charge drivers by each mile driven, with higher pricing in congested areas at peak times, while reducing

1680-457: The mass market. If introduced, this scheme would likely see a charge being levied per mile depending on the time of day, the road being driven along, and perhaps the type of vehicle. For example, a large car driving along the western section of the M25 in rush hour would pay a high charge; a small car driving along a rural lane would pay a much lower charge. The very highest charges would be likely in

1728-543: The most congested urban areas. It is expected that rural motorists would benefit the most from such a scheme, perhaps by paying less through road pricing than they do at present through petrol and car taxes, whereas urban motorists would pay much more than they presently do. However, this is highly dependent on whether such a scheme would be designed to be either revenue neutral or congestion neutral . A revenue neutral scheme would replace (at least in part) petrol and vehicle taxes, and would be such that Treasury revenue under

1776-426: The new scheme would equal the revenue from current taxes. A congestion neutral scheme would be designed so that growth in congestion levels would stop as a result of the new charges; the latter scheme would require significantly higher (and increasingly higher) charges than the revenue neutral scheme and so would be unpopular with the UK's 30 million motorists. The carbon emission consequence of moving from fuel duty to

1824-551: The one in London was proposed in Manchester , covering a wider area but with a much smaller daily charging window covering the morning and evening rush hours. However, this was overwhelmingly rejected when voted upon in Greater Manchester. A scheme for Cambridge is currently under consideration and the subject of heated public debate, with council surveys showing that a majority of Cambridge-area residents reject

1872-462: The period of the Turnpike trusts . The term road pricing itself only came into common use however with publication of the Smeed Report in 1964 which considered how to implement congestion charging in urban areas as a transport demand management method to reduce traffic congestion . Road pricing schemes in place in the UK as of 2012 include road congestion pricing in London and Durham ;

1920-419: The political will needed to establish such a scheme seemed to be slipping away, and commitment atrophied in the UK as the minister requested more feasibility reports, until, in 1970, the government changed and the scheme effectively died. The Smeed committee members had already become frustrated and moved on. In 1966, Smeed was appointed Professor of Traffic Studies at University College London (UCL) and formed

1968-537: The possibility of shadow tolls and new ownership and financing models. Shadow tolls are fees paid to a road maintenance company per driver using a road, but the fees are paid by the government rather than drivers. A 2012 study by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) funded by the RAC Foundation found that the government's drive to promote green vehicles with a lower carbon footprint could result in

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2016-402: The prime minister e-mailed the petitioners outlining his rationale, denying that the proposals were to introduce a stealth tax or increase surveillance, and promising 'debate' before a decision was made as to whether to introduce a national scheme. Also, in a recent poll 74% of those questioned opposed road pricing. Smeed Report The team was led by R. J. Smeed , the deputy director of

2064-417: The privacy of the vehicle users they tracked. A single metering system could be used in any British city centre that chose to adopt a charging zones. There was also an economic analysis that showed that the largest part of the economic benefit from road pricing was not in the relief of congestion but in the revenue collected, which would only be released when the revenue is used. In the arguments that followed,

2112-495: The radical study were reported into the then Ministry of Transport , indicating that the effect of speeding up congested traffic would benefit the country's economy by £100–£150M per annum. It would be possible and feasible to impose car user restraint strategies by charging through the metering of road usage, if the government had the will to do so . Charging zones would be identified by clear signs on their boundaries; these could be electrical and thus be changed at various times of

2160-529: The scheme. In March 2008, councils from across the West Midlands , including those from Birmingham and Coventry , rejected the idea of imposing road pricing schemes on the area, this was despite promises from central government of transport project funding in exchange for the implementation of a road pricing pilot scheme. Similar schemes proposed for cities in the East Midlands have also been dropped. Extensive studies were done in 2005 related to

2208-470: The taxation gap between UK and foreign-registered vehicles, introduced a levy requiring foreign HGVs to pay to use the UK road network. Fuel Duty – An alliance with Fair Fuel UK which aimed to change HM Treasury's stance on road-fuel duty. The campaign resulted in an annual saving of £6,000 per average 44-tonne truck. Love The Lorry – Launched in 2015 with a function at the House of Commons, Love The Lorry

2256-591: The then Research Group in Traffic Studies, which grew to become the present Centre for Transport Studies at UCL within the University of London Centre for Transport Studies. The chair of the parallel and quasi-competing committee, Professor Sir Colin Buchanan took up a post as professor of transport at Imperial College in 1963. Roth, one of the authors of the report, acrimoniously left the country to join

2304-490: Was some discussion about having two zones running side-by-side. However, the Western zone was introduced by simply extending the area of the earlier London zone and use the same charges and conditions for simplicity. Edinburgh seriously considered a two-cordon road pricing scheme but rejected it in 2005 after a public referendum. Tolls and Shadow tolls . The Durham scheme uses an automated toll booth, while London uses

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