The Chancellor’s Budget yesterday heralded the introduction of the long-awaited vehicle scrappage scheme.
To my utter shock and surprise, vans up to 3.5 tonnes are included in the deal as well. Usually commercial vehicle owners are the first in the Firing line for financial penalties.
Consider London’s LEZ where trucks were the first hit, (not many voters and they are noisy and scare pedestrians and timid drivers) with vans still planned to be the next in line, (more voters, not quite so noisy and scary). Were there ever any plans to make polluting, older cars pay? No. (Millions of voters driving cars that protect their family from the elements and danger).
So to summarise: penalise businesses to improve the environment – pay consumers voters to improve the environment.
Not that a measly £1,000 would make any difference to the decision making process of the average truck owner driver when buying a new truck, (not many fleets run vehicles older than nine years of age) but the offer would be nice – especially if it were raised to a more realistic figure between £5,000 and £10,000.
There are the obvious environmental benefits of bringing the nation’s truck parc up to date. The only data available regarding the impact of the LEZ on London is “that it has been a success” and given that the targets were between 5 and 8% reduction in particulates (PM10) this is impressive.
If this were repeated across the country then we could all breathe more easily – especially as Euro 5 and EEV trucks soon to be the norm for new HGVs will push these savings to nearer 20%.
Not that the deal announced in the budget is everything the van industry had hoped for – the van makers must stump up £1,000 to match the £1,000 donated by the government on behalf of the taxpayers.
The vehicle to be scrapped must be up to 3.5 tonnes GVW, hold a valid MoT, must be registered on or before 31 July 1999. The person buying the van must be the registered keeper - and have owned the van for 12 months. The CV Dealer must check that the old van qualifies, do all the paperwork and arrange for the old van to be scrapped.
The scheme will run from Mid-May to March 2010.
Let’s hope it’s worth all of our money.
