Nov/Dec 2005

A few elements of the technology proposed or considered by the UK's abandoned LRUC could resurface in the medium term if the Burns Report's recommendations are followed, but not in anything like the ambitious and all-embracing form originally envisaged.

Already, the Department for Transport has announced plans to spend £2 million on automatic Weigh in Motion Sensors, which will be sited at twenty locations across the country, including the major ports. This is one of the proposals mentioned in the report.

The document also puts some weight behind the idea of automatic number plate recognition as a way of monitoring road use by foreign vehicles arriving at UK ports.

However, Burns makes clear that there is no stomach in the transport industry for the adoption of elaborate new technology in advance of the Government's proposed all-vehicle road charging strategy, which may not happen until 2020. It concludes: "Any new medium-term policy remedy must exploit existing information systems."

 

It describes this as "tailoring the information we already produce," although it does allow the idea of "possible additions" and "some adaptation" to such systems over time.

The report conveys unmistakable regret over the discarded LRUC scheme, which was strongly favoured by the FTA. "The abandonment of the LRUC and the delayed investment in an electronic infrastructure for road pricing are simply postponing the inevitable," it says.

However, it gives some spirited support to the so-called paper-based fuel taxation scheme drawn up by Heriot-Watt University, and suggests this could form a key element in any medium-term strategy. It would involve fuel rebates to UK truck operators, probably monitored during vehicle testing.