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Page 3
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Last September, at the Labour Party conference, this editor asked Secretary of State for Transport Lord Adonis: -Should a percentage of the funds raised from fuel duty be directed towards road transport training grants [administered, say, by Skills for Logistics) specifically for training aimed at producing more efficient operations, thereby helping the road transport industry to meet the government's CO2 reduction targets?
Lord Adonis deflected the question, saying it should be addressed towards the Treasury. A predictable politician's answer, you might say...
This week the notion has arisen again, this time promoted by the Freight Transport Association FM in its response to the Department for Transport's consultation on making eco-driving training a mandatory part of the Driver CPC Isee p6). Specifically the FTA notes the cash-drain all operators suffer as a result of
exorbitant fuel duty and that this prevents them from investing in training; the FTA suggests that funds raised from above-inflation fuel duty rises should be -ringfenced to support the business case for driver training... We couldn't agree more. If we can't prevent the government from increasing duty still further [and as we went
to press toe news from the budget was unclear), the least we can do is to get some of that cash reinvested, whether it be for training or for infrastructure maintenance and improvement.
Given the cuts and suspended projects [such as the £1.1bn Al 4 improvement) already announced by the government, road transport needs to fight for every penny it can get.