Annex A
A VIGNETTE
1. A vignette is a pass or season ticket
for lorries of all nationalities to use major roads. It is based
on time, not distance. The scope for a vignette, including the
maximum which can be charged, is constrained by European legislation—the
Eurovignette Directive.
2. At present, Germany, the Netherlands,
Belgium, Luxembourg, Denmark and Sweden operate a joint vignette
scheme—the Eurovignette—for all lorries over 12 tonnes.
A single vignette gives access to the motorways of all these countries.
Austria runs its own vignette scheme.
3. Any vignette in this country would need
to be applied on a non-discriminatory basis to UK and foreign
hauliers alike. For foreign hauliers, vignettes would apply only
to motorways and motorway-type roads. UK based hauliers could
be required to have an annual vignette. It might be possible to
combine annual vignettes for UK hauliers with a VED disc: vignettes
for short periods would probably be sold from machines.
4. Decisions on whether to introduce a vignette
system and on VED rates are for the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
The Directive
5. Under the new Eurovignette directive,
99/62, which will come into effect on 1 July 2000, the maximum
annual charges for bigger lorries will be between
1,550 (£930*) and
1,250 (£750*[40]),
with the greater charges for more polluting (non-Euro and Euro
I emission standard) lorries. Maxima are also set for daily (about
£4.80 for all vehicles*), weekly and monthly vignettes. Separate
administrative charges cannot be made.
6. No central records are kept of which
UK lorries meet Euro I and Euro II standards, and there is no
single vehicle registration date cut-off point. One alternative
would be to set cut-off dates when all newly registered vehicles
met the higher standards and require older vehicles meeting those
standards to get certification to that effect; the other would
be to apply only the lower annual rate of vignette—
1,250 or £750*—within the UK.
Revenue
7. Most of the Eurovignette countries have
substantial transit traffic—far more, proportionately, than
the UK. For that reason their revenue from foreign registered
lorries is higher than the UK's would be. It is impossible to
say how many individual foreign lorries enter the UK, because
many make multiple trips. On reasonable but cautious assumptions,
about 720,000 foreign registered vehicles (most of them with five
axles) spend a total of about 1,170,000 vehicle days in the UK.
8. If all foreign lorries above 12 tonnes
were charged at the daily rate of £4.80[41]
the gross revenue might be some £5.5m. In practice, it may
not be possible to raise even this amount without also increasing
the combined VED plus vignette burden on some domestic lorries.
The VED for a 44 tonne lorry with a Reduced Pollution Certificate,
used for combined road/rail transport, was again frozen in the
Budget at £280, only £75 above the minimum of £205*.
It would thus be impossible to reduce VED by more than £75
in order to compensate for a vignette.
9. Suggestions for vignette schemes which
would not raise the tax burden on any particular lorry have included:
— to set different vignette rates for
different types of vehicle. This would be complicated and add
to administration costs;
— to set the annual vignette rate at
£75, equivalent to the difference between the minima set
in the Directive and the lowest VED rate. This could reduce the
gross revenue from foreign lorries to less than £1 million;
— to confine the vignette to five axle
vehicles (including those which can operate at five or six axles).
This would include most of the foreign lorries crossing to GB,
but the position might be different on the Northern Ireland/Republic
of Ireland border. The revenue from foreign lorries in this case
could be some £4.9 million.
10. It would not be possible under any of
these options to join the existing Eurovignette scheme.
Costs
11. No assessment of costs of setting up
and administration has been made. Based on experience elsewhere,
setting up costs are likely to be significantly over £10m.
On-going costs would include issuing permits, receiving and accounting
for monies and enforcement. These costs would be a great deal
less if all UK registered lorries of the type selected were required
to have an annual vignette as part of their VED.
Advantages
12. The advantage of a vignette is that
foreign lorries would be charged for the use of the major roads
in the UK. They would thus contribute to the track costs which
they impose.
Disadvantages
13. The main disadvantages of a vignette
are:
— gross revenue would be small;
— the cost of setting up and running
a scheme could be large in relation to revenue.
but there are others:
— UK international hauliers would still
have to pay for vignettes and tolls in other Member States;
— the possibility that foreign lorries
will divert from motorways and dual carriageways onto less suitable
but free roads. This would only apply to UK lorries if there was
no requirement for an annual vignette;
— going by continental experience,
a system could take some 18 months to set up from scratch—but
the need for primary legislation could make that timetable longer.
DETR
April 2000
40 At March 2000 exchange rate. Back
41
At March 2000 exchange rates. Back
| 
