Examination of Witnesses (Questions 520
- 539)
WEDNESDAY 29 MARCH 2000
MR JOHN
NEWTON, MR
EDWARD STOBART,
MR EDWARD
RODERICK AND
MR VAUGHAN
WOOLFITT
520. Are they at the maximum end?
(Mr Stobart) Yes.
521. So they are paying the £5,750, are
they?
(Mr Stobart) Yes.
Chairman: They were.
Mr Donohoe
522. They were but it is now down to £3,950.
(Mr Stobart) Yes.
523. What is the case with across industry?
Have you any idea?
(Mr Roderick) The vast majority of the larger haulier
fleets would be, as Edward's is, at 70 to 75 per cent plus, and
then of course there are a lot of 17-tonne, 7.5-tonne vehicles
on the road anyway.
524. You would not have what the average was
across the industry?
(Mr Roderick) No, I would not.
525. Would anybody present have that?
(Mr Stobart) No.
526. What would be, would you reckon, the average
savings that could be made by your company on the basis of the
Budget statement last week? Have you worked that out?
(Mr Stobart) I have not in great detail, no, but you
reduced the road tax from £5,750 down by £1,800 per
vehicle on a five axle vehicle.
Mr Donohoe: So what are the savings to your
company on the basis of that alone?
Chairman
527. Seventy five per cent of a thousand.
(Mr Stobart) Basically, yes.
Mr Donohoe
528. So it is about £1.5 million to you
as an individual?
(Mr Stobart) Yes. But it was not long ago that for
that particular vehicle the road fund licence was £3,500,
so the actual new road tax now at the reduced rate is £3,950,
so it is still more than what it was.
529. How does that compare to what the position
is in Europe? There was an argument in an early part of the representations
that were made to government to try to resolve this situation
on that and I thought we had done that. Can you tell us what differential
if any is there between the UK and the rest of Europe as far as
the vehicle excise duty is concerned?
(Mr Stobart) We have a hundred vehicles based in Belgium
now caused by the last Budget.
Chairman
530. And that was in the last year, so you had
not got a depot there before?
(Mr Stobart) No. I have three now.
531. Where are they?
(Mr Stobart) One at Bern, one at Lauchland(?) and
one near Antwerp.
Mr Donohoe
532. That is not solely down to the Budget statement,
is it?
(Mr Stobart) Basically, yes. These are international
vehicles running out of the UK all across Europe and internationally.
I took the choice of basing a hundred vehicles in Belgium. The
road tax in Belgium is £550 for a 40-tonne vehicle, not,
at your new rate, £3,950.
Miss McIntosh
533. And the fuel duty is substantial.
(Mr Stobart) The fuel in Belgium at the present moment
in time is roughly half cost of what British fuel is.
Chairman
534. Are you employing Belgian drivers?
(Mr Stobart) Yes, we have some Belgian drivers.
535. So what is the social cost to the Belgian
driver?
(Mr Stobart) About £70 a week more than a British
driver.
536. So there are different on-costs?
(Mr Stobart) There are different on-costs.
537. And in the areas which you have chosen
there are local taxes, are there not?
(Mr Stobart) Yes, but Belgium is an expensive place
to be. It is one of the most expensive places in Europe so we
did not go for the cheapest. We went for Belgium because of the
place it is. It is the crossroads of Europe.
538. So it may be that over a year, if you were
to add in all your costs, the local taxes, changes in social security,
because Belgium is very high on certain taxes, you may find that
the saving is not quite what it appeared in the first instance.
(Mr Stobart) No. We have learned a lot by that but
it is still cheaper to have vehicles registered in Belgium. Stobarts
did not take the view to flag vehicles out. We actually emigrated
vehicles out, which is worse for the British Government.
Mr Donohoe
539. So the Budget has made no difference to
that?
(Mr Stobart) Not on those, it did not, no.
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