Yes,it as been said before,the problem with that is somewhere somebody as to collect it and then that incures costs,and does not address the tax on fuel,say a truck comes over with 1000lt of diesel at eastern european prices they do not need to buy fuel in the UK unlike the trucks that are based in the UK and have to pay UK prices to fill their tanks,who then has the lowest costs ■■?
Yes I believe that all foreign registered trucks or vans entering this country should pay a tax for the priviledge of driving on our wide and uncongested roads 
On a serious note, it is estimated that there are approximately 10,000 foreign trucks on our roads each day, if they were taxed that would amount to a sizable amount for the Government’s coffers.
A quick bag of an evolope adding means that at most it adds to 25 million,that is if all the trucks stay 1yr which they do not,most do not spend 6mths so that means 12.5 million at most,take away the cost of admin/chasing none payment,for the goverment it does not add up to a great deal.The fuel and wages differencial makes the difference,with large tanks no non UK truck need ever buy diesel in the UK with UK fuel costing 30% more at least,trucks let say do 8/9 a mpg at cost of 1 Euro per litre(4.5 to a gall)so at 4.5Euro that makes it £3 per gall,etc now my head is getting done but that makes 1000lts £300 cheaper,6mths RFL is say £1250,fuel up 4x and run to the UK tax is paid. 
all trucks should pay to use the motorways of europe in fact all vehicles should pay to use the motorways of europe including here in the uk.
it isn’t difficult to implement either, austria did it in less than 2 years from idea to implementation and they didn’t suffer the same problems as germany.
the austrians were forced to act by the eu.
johnny:
all trucks should pay to use the motorways of europe in fact all vehicles should pay to use the motorways of europe including here in the uk.
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Why? Wouldn’t it be better if no trucks paid any tolls anywhere in Europe?
This toll business is a European disease which I hope the UK doesn’t catch, just as I hope that we don’t catch the UK obsession with paid parking.
Salut, David.
Coffeeholic:
jessicas dad:
how about every lorry that has foreign plates that comes through the ports in bound pays £50.It’s a nice idea but it can’t happen.
If you were charging the foreign ones £50 a week, UK ones would also have to pay £50 a week. Under EU law you cannot introduce a tax like that against certain countries. That is why the Germans pay the German Maut, The Austrians their Maut and the Belgians, Dutch, Danes etc pay the Vignette even if they only ever travel within their borders. That’s EU law I’m afraid and like it or not we are in the EU and can only introdeuce a tax for all trucks.
If the UK does finally get round to introducing a Road user Charge for trucks it is likely to be something along the lines of the German Maut so it can more easily be applied to UK registered vehicles as well. Only charging a tax at ferry ports, the Channel Tunnel and NI/ROI border means it wouldn’t apply to the vast majority of UK vehicles and that is a no no.
It could be done, all commercial vehicles using UK roads should pay a tax, So if you wanted to you could pay a yearly fee as now. Or you could pay per day at the port of entry plus a commision to cover the extra admin. So there is no difference between UK or Foreign trucks the choice is the operators.
Then someone would have to check them out of the UK, aswell,in and out at every port,how many ports are they? x2 24hours a day add,s up to a bit.
froggy:
Then someone would have to check them out of the UK, aswell,in and out at every port,how many ports are they? x2 24hours a day add,s up to a bit.
That’s is were the admin costs come in. Or electronic readers at ports of entry reading a charge card in the screen. It’s not impossible, just needs political will, could PFI it to reduce the start-up costs for the government.
Spardo:
johnny:
all trucks should pay to use the motorways of europe in fact all vehicles should pay to use the motorways of europe including here in the uk.
.Why? Wouldn’t it be better if no trucks paid any tolls anywhere in Europe?
This toll business is a European disease which I hope the UK doesn’t catch, just as I hope that we don’t catch the UK obsession with paid parking.
Salut, David.
if that were the case then where would the money come from for building and maintaining the road network of each country.
we have our own system that is ved (vehicle excise duty) but ved is impossible to force upon those trucks visiting this country as it is paid yearly or six monthly.
when ved was introduced there weren’t any or many foreign vehicles on the roads of the uk, times have changed but the government have been slow to act (as per the norm).
we need a system of charging and the only way to make it support itself is to charge per kilometer or mile and to charge everyone.
this system would solve many problems all in one go, no tax dodgers as ved would be almost abolished.
cheaper diesel in this country as the cost per mile would have to be offset against another mileage based charge (fuel is the only mileage based charge in this country).
truck systems would have to linked to a database of operators licencing to ensure that only the companies with o licences could travel without being flagged up.
it’s the only way forward for this country.
i’ve read today that 93% of people travel by road and not by public transport, this is a terrible indictment on our citizens and our government as it proves that people don’t trust or like public transport and that the government are unable to produce a transport system that people will use.
with petrol at nearly £1 a litre you would think that less and less people would still be driving but everyday the roads are choked up for miles upon miles during peak hours and beyond.
they should put petrol up even higher i think.
£2 a litre would be about right, it might get some of the lazy herberts out of their cars and onto public transport, yes i drive a car, 52 miles to work and 52 miles home every week, i can’t get to my workplace without a car as it’s not on any bus route or other public transport route, i get on the motorway and drive at 70 to 80 mph all the time, hardly fuel efficient and i am not the fasest car on the road, when people start driving at 55 to 60 mph then we will know we have the right balance on the price of a litre of petrol.
Mucs,where do you then buy the card and where do you pay?so if you can apply from oversea that means an electronic system as to be put in place and maintained as well as the office and staff and I can see it being wide open to fraud…
Johnhy a smart car(the lttle)takes up far less road than a 4x4 and does less damage to the road,why should they pay the same for fuel?
I agree with Simon, if you devide the annual road tax for a vehicle by 365 and charge any non UK registered truck the same amount per day (as is done with the Vignette) Then there is no unfair advantage other than fuel. The govenment could then allow UK trucks to run on red diesel. That would even the playing field all round.
Regards
westie
froggy:
Mucs,where do you then buy the card and where do you pay?so if you can apply from oversea that means an electronic system as to be put in place and maintained as well as the office and staff and I can see it being wide open to fraud…
Johnhy a smart car(the lttle)takes up far less road than a 4x4 and does less damage to the road,why should they pay the same for fuel?
I don’t say I’ve got all the answers, but most countries in Europe manage to charge HGV for using the road, so I can’t believe that the UK can’t come up with a solution.
A simple electronic card could be bought at the point of entry and disposed of when leaving, no payment or perminant card no exit, bit like a peage ticket or parking ticket. The system is paid for by the extra admin fee for buying a card for a limited period of entry instead of a years ticket. can’t see it being anymore open to fraud than any other system operating.
A smart car uses less fuel than a 4x4 so therefore you would pay less tax if you chose to use one. The same if you decided to drive fewer miles
froggy:
Mucs,where do you then buy the card and where do you pay?so if you can apply from oversea that means an electronic system as to be put in place and maintained as well as the office and staff and I can see it being wide open to fraud…
Johnhy a smart car(the little)takes up far less road than a 4x4 and does less damage to the road,why should they pay the same for fuel?
They wouldn’t be paying nearly as much tax. Because they are so economical, especially in comparison to a 4x4, they would be paying a much smaller amount.
I would go with the pay per day, with a charge based on normal UK VED. It could easily be linked in to the ports ticketing computers and built into the ticket price.
When I worked for Murfitts I dropped into H.M.s Immigration office in Dover. I wanted to try and reclaim my income tax. If you were in the UK for less than 90 days (I think it was), you could claim back over 50% of the tax. They were able to supply me with a computer print-out which told me which port I had shipped out of, on which ship, at what time, on what day and the same coming in. Unfortunately I had been in the UK for 112 days that year 
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If they can do that, they can work out how many days a wagon has been in the country and apply a charge.
It might also cut down on the numbers who park up for days (and in some cases, weeks), waiting for back loads. Often the drivers from the Eastern European countries are only paid when they are moving a load, so get paid nothing while they are waiting. They don’t get paid much, in comparison to us, in the first place.
but still, a day taxation system would not cover the cost of the damage they do to the roads and the industry, i used to pay £5 per day to be in germany, whether i was there all day or just 1 hour of the day, i am still there for the same time now and yet i pay nearly £100 for the 3 days or part days i spend in germany, this is sometimes less and sometimes more depending which routes i choose to use but next year a think they will introduce road user charging for some or all of the national roads too so my weekly road tolls will increase to over £100 per week every week but i will still only be using the same roads for the same amount of days per week.
it’s the way forward, if vehicles cause damage on a per kilometre or per mile basis then the charge must be based upon the same scale, per mile or kilometre.
johnny:
it’s the way forward, if vehicles cause damage on a per kilometre or per mile basis then the charge must be based upon the same scale, per mile or kilometre.
Road pricing well happen in the UK, but it just we need a simple solution to try an level the playing field for UK hauliers until the a full system of gantries or GPS system is developed to track vehicles and charge them.
I dont think anyone will disagree with charging foreign trucks, but the government have had 2 chances of bringing this in and rejected both of them.
1st the workable Vignette system was rejected as unworkable
2nd, The road user charge was dropped by this government after spending tens of thousands of pounds to introduce it.
I agree that foreign companies have to pay, my company has to pay in Holland and I dont go there 
Wheel Nut:
I dont think anyone will disagree with charging foreign trucks,
I do. Providing foreign countries reciprocate. 
Salut, David.
Wheel Nut:
I dont think anyone will disagree with charging foreign trucks, but the government have had 2 chances of bringing this in and rejected both of them.1st the workable Vignette system was rejected as unworkable
2nd, The road user charge was dropped by this government after spending tens of thousands of pounds to introduce it.
I agree that foreign companies have to pay, my company has to pay in Holland and I dont go there
Dafdave I remember the government saying that the vignette was unworkable what a laugh.When i used to run to prague yrs ago i used to re enter germany thro. a tiny border to the n/east of regensburg. When you got to the german customs the man would look at your passport and ask if you had a valid vignette,if you did you got your passport back and went on your way IF NOTyou were directed to an office 200mtrs along the bay to obtain one.On production of the valid tax you got your passport returned and went on your way.Now you tell me if this system is not workable in a country that is an island apart from the c/tunnel
I have just come back from Switzerland and although it is expensive the system is fairly simple. You register your truck on the border on the first visit and receive a chipped card, you can also enter your fuel card details to pay the tax automatically.
Years ago it was a paper system and the destination kilometres were in a book that you were charged on.
After the first registration with the card it is easy, if you lose the card you are charged for a new one.
I did hear that France want to start road charging for the nationals as well because everyone is abusing the priviledge now that the Maut is so expensive
Wheel Nut:
you can also enter your fuel card details to pay the tax automatically.
Remember the tankshein Malc? I was told it was necessary on my first trip but had never seen it written down.
Spent ages buffing the thing up just before the border 
