Clearview National April 2016 - Issue 173 | Page 20

INDUSTRYNEWS

Lorry ban
would put more
vehicles on
London’s roads
»»THE FREIGHT
Transport Association (FTA)
says London mayoral candidate
Caroline Pidgeon’s call for a
peak-hour lorry ban is shortsighted and would put hundreds
more vans on the city’s roads at
the busiest time of day.
The Liberal Democrat
candidate wants HGVs and
construction vehicles banned
from the city centre daily from
7-10am and 4-7pm, enforced by
Congestion Charge cameras. She
claims the ban would improve air

pollution and make roads safer
for cyclists.
But Christopher Snelling,
FTA’s Head of National and
Regional Policy, said: “Banning
lorries at peak times makes no
sense. Deliveries still need to
be made so a medium-sized
HGV would be replaced by 10
vans, with increased emissions,
congestion, cost and potential
injuries to vulnerable road
users.
“Rather than ban lorries from
our city centres, we need to focus

‘deliveries still need to be made’
on all aspects of road use to
improve safety and pollution for
everyone. HGVs can certainly
play their part with cleaner Euro
VI engines, revisions to mirrors
and sideguards and better cab
design.”
Mr Snelling said FTA urged
the Government to offer
incentives to enable operators to

make the often costly changes to
their fleets.
Mr Snelling said: “Again, this
will put more vehicles on already
busy the roads. Simplistic lorry
bans are unlikely to be the best
solution in terms of safety and
will make it harder to operate the
businesses that London relies on
every day.”

FSB welcomes OTS review
on small business taxation
Commenting on the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) small company taxation
review, Mike Cherry, Policy Director at the Federation of Small Businesses, said:
»»“THIS OTS REVIEW HAS
made a numbers of impor tant
recommendations which should
help small businesses but we would
like to see a bolder approach. Our
members have told us there is a
pressing need to simplify the tax
system and reduce administrative
burdens. FSB has submitted its
own recommendations on how
to radically simplify and overhaul
the complexity of the current tax
system.
“As the report rightly recognises,
the small business community is
not a uniform group of taxpayers.
We believe simplification should

be tailored to different types
of firms by creating a far more
user-friendly and ‘tax-payer
centric’ system. Such a system
would recognise that compliance
costs faced by companies differ at
different stages of their life cycle.
“We are greatly encouraged by
the report’s recommendation of
producing a future study into a
consolidated tax model for micro
companies – including using
turnover as a basis for tax. Our
research has demonstrated the clear
benefits of including a number
of separate taxes into a single
payment for small businesses,

20 » A PR 2016 » CL EARVI E W- UK . C O M

which offers the potential for
a significant reduction in tax
complexity for small firms.
“We are pleased to see the
OTS’s call to be involved in the
development of HMRC’s Making
Tax Digital agenda to ensure
simplification issues are considered.
Pursuing the digital agenda without
simplifying the tax system will
simply cause consternation across
the small business community,
especially among those who are
not able to complete tax returns
online. The report also notes the
enormous concern and confusion
around proposals for mandatory

quarterly digital reporting. For
many businesses, these proposals
would be disproportionately
burdensome and act as a potential
barrier towards the creation of more
start-ups in the UK.”