Tuesday 21 November 2017

Chancellor ‘must close delivery truck pollution loophole’

The Chancellor could save £126 million and slash pollution by closing a tax loophole encouraging delivery trucks to use red diesel.

That's according to the Dearman Engine Company, which says an estimated 26,000 cold delivery trucks have two engines - one propelling the truck and the second cooling the storage compartment.

While main engines are subject to stringent EU emission standards, weaker regulation for second engines means they're able to emit almost thirty times as much pollution as main engines.

The group says second engines are often also ran using publicly subsidised red diesel, estimated to cost taxpayers £126 million.

The subsidy makes diesel cheaper than zero emission technologies and disincentivises adopting cleaner fuels.

In total, the UK’s 84,000 cold delivery vehicles are estimated to cause as much pollution as nearly four million modern diesel cars.

Scott Mac Meekin, CEO of Dearman said: "The Budget is an opportunity to make our tax system fairer, to encourage the development of British technology, to reduce pollution and invest money into a health service dealing with the impacts of toxic air.

"The Chancellor should close the £126 million tax loophole and end cheap diesel for polluting delivery trucks."

The Budget will be announced on Wednesday.