The government’s backing for congestion charging in Manchester could could signal the beginning of a major headache for all UK firms running business vehicles, says Leaseplan’s David Brennan.The government’s backing for the introduction of a congestion charging scheme in Manchester has caused a heated debate among north-west businesses.
However, it could signal the beginning of a major headache for all UK firms running business vehicles.
The Manchester scheme plans to make use of an electronic tagging system. It will use this to charge vehicles entering the zone during peak times.
It is significantly different from the vehicle registering system used in London. As yet, it’s unclear if the Manchester scheme will follow London’s proposed CO2 based route.
The danger is that business drivers have to register separately for each scheme.
The lack of any central responsibility could hit companies hard – particularly those that have employees regularly travelling in or between the two cities.
Other cities like Birmingham are investigating their own congestion charge schemes. It seems this marks the beginning of a number of individual systems operating throughout the UK, without central control.
As well as the added administration, many companies could see their business car costs rocket as drivers travel between different charging zones.
We would like to see a centralised approach so that firms don’t face blizzards of paperwork with multiple registrations and multiple payments.
We’re open to ideas as to who can fill that centralised role, whether someone like the DVLA or a newly formed central Government body.
But there’s a definite need for it – the London model is likely to be rolled out in other cities in the coming years, so we need to be sure that the roll-out is managed and we’re not left with a number of competing, wildly different schemes.
Further information
- Read the news story Congestion charge for Manchester
- Read our Law & Tax article Tax: how much is the London Congestion Charge?
- There’s also our Law & Tax article Tax: how much is the London Congestion Charge from 27.10.08?
