Road tolls will cost businesses, says Masterlease

Edited by the Employeebenefitstalk editorial team Aug 6, 2009

Robert Kingdom, head of marketing at fleet-management company Masterlease, has said UK businesses will end up carrying the cost if the Conservatives, if elected, introduce more toll-roads.

At the time of opening the M6 toll road in 2003, the CBI stated that it would save UK businesses millions of pounds each year by reducing lost working time and fuel usage and by improving delivery times.

However, many haulage firms have eschewed the M6 toll because of the cost and as a result the M6 is often swamped with vehicles at rush hour.

David Cameron has said road tolls are purely a way of raising funds to offset the UK's public borrowing, but isn't trying to pretend they are a 'solve all' solution to traffic congestion.

However, the reality is that most of the income from toll roads will be paid by UK businesses, as company-car drivers make up a substantial proportion of the nation's road users.

It is unlikely that private motorists will be keen to pay for toll roads, given the fact that 1.8 million drivers recently signed a Downing Street petition against exactly that.

The Conservatives must be well aware of this, so it implies that as a means of generating profit it would be relying on company-car drivers to fund the scheme.

Recent statistics on the M6 toll road show that only half of the motorists predicted to use the road when it opened in 2003 are using it now.

Given the fact that there are roughly four million business-car and van drivers on the UK's roads today it would then follow that if the Tories get into power next year they will look to businesses to generate the cash.

Whatever happens, the fleet industry will need to be prepared.

Road pricing could be inevitable as the UK moves towards its aim of an 80 per cent cut in carbon emissions by 2050.