The Road Haulage Association welcomes the news that the Prime      Minister intends to revisit the Conservative proposal to ‘share the  risk’ of higher fuel prices between the government and road users.

“We supported the proposal of a fair fuel stabiliser when it was first raised four years ago and we shall be supporting it now”, said RHA chief executive Geoff Dunning. “This will certainly go some way to help relieve the crippling financial burden currently being faced by UK hauliers and we shall be pressing for its implementation as soon as possible.

“We were greatly encouraged when the Coalition, within weeks of taking power, proposed the possibility of a fuel duty stabiliser and were extremely disappointed when the plans were shelved for ‘financial reasons’. In 2009, road users contributed nearly £50 billion to Treasury coffers”, Dunning continued. “£32 billion of that came from fuel duty and VAT on fuel yet only a small proportion was returned through road building and maintenance. The fact that the price of fuel before tax has risen dramatically means that the Treasury will get far more revenue than expected from the hike in fuel duty on 1 January and the VAT increase on 4 January, so 2011 looks set to be a bumper year for tax income from fuel.

“The money is there”, concluded Dunning. “Let’s see some of it being used in a way that may well provide the lifeline that UK hauliers have been so desperately waiting for”.

December van registrations

Total van and truck registrations came to 20,260 units in December, up 25.6% for the month. Full year figures were 257,373 units for 2010, 16.4% up on last year.

Trucks were up 51.6% to 3,174 in December, full year at 34,458 units just 0.8% down. Vans performed better, up 21.7% to 17,086 in December; full year at 222,915 units, up 19.6%.

“During 2010 van and truck registrations posted one of the strongest annual rates of growth ever, at 15.9%, as volumes started to recover from the recession,” said Paul Everitt, SMMT chief executive. The van market rose in all but one month in 2010, boosted by better than expected business confidence and improved output from the construction sector. Truck registrations grew rapidly in the second half of 2010 and ended the year on par with 2009 levels. “While we still have a long way to go to get volumes back to pre-recession levels, we expect more growth in 2011 and 2012,” he continued.

There’s been another German win this week as Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles has secured a £1.7m deal to supply over 80 Transporter vans to Arcus Engineering.

Arcus operates the refrigeration maintenance contract in the South East for Sainsbury’s. The fleet comprises the new, more fuel-efficient Volkswagen Transporter van launched earlier this year, along with some of Volkswagen’s smaller van, the Caddy, to work in and around London.  The vehicles, interior conversions and contract hire agreement have been managed by Lex Autolease.

The firm, based in Upminster, Essex, is a new refrigeration division to sister company ArcusFM which manages the facilities contract for the national network of Sainsbury’s stores.

Past experience and the reputation of the Volkswagen brand helped to secure the order. ArcusFM fleet manager, Janet Bass, said: “It was imperative that we launched Arcus Engineering with a fleet that was reliable and robust. Abridge Van Centre was very helpful throughout the process by providing a range of demonstrator vehicles that we could test at our leisure before making the decision.”

“We are delighted that Arcus Engineering is satisfied with the vehicles and our customer service,” said Wendy Williamson, commercial sales manager at Abridge Van Centre in Loughton, Essex.

“We continually work hard on providing a high level of customer service and developing our links with local businesses and we believe this acquisition is evidence of that,” she added.

The Telegraph, meanwhile, has published the results of a new survey showing that texting and chatting on the phone are still major distractions for motorists, despite the fact that they’re illegal.

More than half (51%) of 3,000 drivers polled said they believed that motorists were losing concentration through texting.

Four in 10 of those questioned by Autoglass said they believed that chatting on the phone was also distracting millions of drivers, with those in the 55-plus age group believed to be worst-affected.

The top ten distractions in full:

1. Texting 51%

2. Talking on phone 45%

3. Changing radio/CD player 40.4%

4. Staring at an accident 39.8%

5. Eating or drinking 37%

6. Children in the car 36%

7. Chatting to a passenger 32.3%

8. Road rage 32%

9. Having an argument 31%

10. Lighting a cigarette 29%

Britain’s most lucrative speed trap

If you’re prone to any of the above, you’d better stay away from Peterborough too as a speed trap there has nailed nearly 1,000 drivers in just 10 days (bringing in £54,000).

Two fixed cameras installed to slow cars to 40mph approaching roadworks are thought to be the biggest moneyspinners in Britain, according to the Daily Mail.

Activated just 10 days ago, officials estimate 1,000 drivers a day speed past the cameras at over 40mph. But only those exceeding 46mph are issued with tickets.

The BVRLA has advised Chancellor George Osborne to abolish the tax disc and allow the purchase of multi-year Vehicle Excise Duty.

The suggestions came in the association’s submission ahead of the emergency Budget on 22 June.

More than 34 million tax discs are produced, printed and distributed annually and the BVRLA believes that eliminating them could save the government over £90 million each year.

The use of automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras and continuous registration laws mean there is no longer a need for tax discs to be displayed on windscreens.

With first-year vehicle excise duty rates rising significantly for high-emission vehicles, to £950 for some cars, Treasury officials have previously expressed concerns that high-value discs could increasingly be targeted by thieves.

“Not having to display a tax disc would bring us into the 21^st Century and reduce the burden on fleet owners, who would no longer have to distribute them to drivers or retrieve them when they were seeking to obtain a refund,” said BVRLA chief executive, John Lewis.

“It would help the government make instant progress in its plans to cut government waste and the money could be invested in modernising some of the DVLA’s antiquated systems and working practices.”

Multi-year VED

The BVRLA believes that introducing the ability to purchase multi-year VED would save the industry up to five million pounds in administration costs each year, as well as improving the cash flow to the Exchequer and reducing workload at the DVLA.

“Having previously shared our proposals with the DVLA, we know that it is equally keen to see this measure pursued,” Mr Lewis added.

Tax inequality

Elsewhere in its submission, the BVRLA outlines a number of simple changes that the government could make to the current company car tax regime in light of its ‘simpler and more efficient’ agenda. In particular, it calls for a removal of the current 3% diesel supplement in benefit-in-kind tax for company cars and fuel.

“Removing this historically out-of-date, pollution-related penalty would accelerate further corporate adoption of these vehicles and help to push company car emissions even lower,” said Mr Lewis.

“We accept that, in the current economic climate, there may be a need to make compensatory adjustments to the benefit-in-kind base lines in order to maintain the tax take.”

The Nissan NV200 is the reigining International Van of the Year 2010. The prestigious trophy is awarded each year by the 23-strong jury representing countries throughout Europe and this year the new Nissan has scooped the top award seeing off the challenge of Iveco’s EcoDaily and the Volkswagen Transporter.

NV200 is a completeley new van for the market and impressed the international jury with a number of key attributes, according to UK jury member Andy Salter. “THe NV200 is an excellent addition to the LCV ranks with the ability to tackle rivals across a variety of segmants,” he said. “Both payload and load volume are impressive, while the load area, with its efficient use of space and low wheelarch intrusion, makes it practical vehicle for multiple trades and industries.”

The judges were also taken by NV200′s high level of cab comfort and especially its low interior noise levels at high speed, Salter explained, while build quality, attention to detail, and all-round driver visibility came in for special mention.

Nissan is the first van manufacturer to design and develop a new model van that will be sold in the three main global van markets of Asia, Europe and North America. However, despite being a ‘world’ product, Nissan says there have been no design compromises although it has enabled the company to reduce production costs through the use of shared components.