Sept/Oct 2004

Is this a campaign? Then we're on board

m.logistics supports the call for more industry feedback, clarity and rationality in the implementation of lorry road-user charging. If anyone wants to start a campaign on the issue, we're ready to back it. If this is the start of the campaign, let us know and we'll take it from here!

Why? For the very reason that we are among the most enthusiastic supporters of telematics technologies. We think the potential to track, monitor and respond to fleet movements in real time is amazing, and has brought transport and logistics firmly into the twenty-first century.

We want to see that technology used more and more widely, and developed to its full potential. We want to see transport operators reaping the rewards, and suppliers profiting from the imagination and commitment they've put into their development work. We want to see them taking that on to the next generation.

 

What we don't want to see is the Government hijacking the technology, setting it in tablets of stone, stifling its development with formal specifications and red tape, imposing it willy-nilly on all operators, even those who have no use for it, incurring massive cost and potential disruption in the process, and generally muddying the image of something that should be seen as exciting, forward-looking and beneficial.

Nor do we particularly like the idea of a system that allows the Government to track the movements of all commercial vehicles all the time, wherever they go. That's effectively what's being proposed. And if the scheme is introduced later for cars (which many believe is the ultimate aim), presumably that will apply to them, too. Ever heard of 1984? We're not laughing.

It's not too late to influence the course of events. Tender bids for implementing the system won't be finalised until early next year. But if nobody speaks out, the whole thing will go through on the nod.

How can this be happening? We suspect it's because few in the industry have fully woken up to what's going on. The idea of tracking all trucks seems so impossibly ambitious that it's probably being shrugged off by most people as a distant pipe dream. Well, it's not. We're here to tell you it's really happening, and could be in force in just three years' time. If we can't prevent it, at least we should have some say in how it's done.

Peter Rowlands, Editorial Director

What do you think? Tell us NOW!

Write, fax, email us with your opinions on the UK's lorry road user charging proposals! We need to know if there's a groundswell of support for our position. If you disagree, and think the current proposals are well-founded, please tell us that too. We don't want to promote a campaign unless we have some support, and in any case we're anxious to air all points of view.

The main point is don't delay. Before you know it the year will be over, and all this will be happening regardless of what you think.

Email: Peter Rowlands, editorial director, on peter@mlogmag.com, or Sharon Clancy, editor, on sharon@mlogmag.com

Fax: +44 (0)20 7924 1882 Address: 17 Spice Court, Plantation Wharf, London SW11 3UE.