Skip to main content

Foreign hauliers to pay HGV levy to use UK roads

Foreign hauliers will be charged to use UK roads for the first time from today, 1 April 2014 transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin has announced. UK truck drivers working in Europe currently pay tolls and levies when delivering goods abroad, but foreign trucks operating in the UK have not been required to make a similar payment. The HGV road user levy, which is being brought in nearly a year ahead of schedule, introduces a charge that ensures British hauliers are better able to compete with their for
April 1, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
Foreign hauliers will be charged to use UK roads for the first time from today, 1 April 2014 transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin has announced.

UK truck drivers working in Europe currently pay tolls and levies when delivering goods abroad, but foreign trucks operating in the UK have not been required to make a similar payment.

The HGV road user levy, which is being brought in nearly a year ahead of schedule, introduces a charge that ensures British hauliers are better able to compete with their foreign counterparts.  The levy has long been called for by the UK haulage industry and creates a fairer system by removing some of the inequality UK hauliers feel when paying to use many roads abroad.

Patrick McLoughlin said: “The HGV levy will provide a massive boost for the UK haulage industry. It will create a level playing field across Europe, giving UK firms a much better opportunity to win business.”

Related Content

  • Public Private Partnerships to gather pace in the US
    April 29, 2015
    Public Private Partnerships are set to play a big role in transportation funding as Andrew Bardin Williams discovers. The old joke goes that the road from New York to Chicago is paved with potholes. For decades, drivers from New York and New Jersey traveling across Pennsylvania to visit the Midwest have lambasted the Commonwealth’s roadways for their lack of smooth pavement.
  • America explores road user charging options
    November 14, 2017
    Jack Opiola casts an eye over the numerous road user charging pilots underway in the US. In the USA, congestion mitigation and improving mobility have often focused on network improvements, increased road capacity, improved public transport, high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes or ‘express lanes’ and ITS measures – all of which require political capital and major funding. Nowadays, political capital is as hard to obtain as funding because more political leaders are recognising the decline of fuel excise tax
  • America explores road user charging options
    November 27, 2017
    Jack Opiola casts an eye over the numerous road user charging pilots underway in the US. In the USA, congestion mitigation and improving mobility have often focused on network improvements, increased road capacity, improved public transport, high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes or ‘express lanes’ and ITS measures – all of which require political capital and major funding. Nowadays, political capital is as hard to obtain as funding because more political leaders are recognising the decline of fuel excise tax in
  • T&E welcomes rules to enable smarter road tolls in Europe
    February 2, 2015
    Sustainable transport group Transport & Environment has welcomed the announcement by Violeta Bulc, the EU’s head of transport, of plans to develop a Europe-wide scheme to charge lorries and cars for using roads. Bulc stressed that the scheme would be optional, meaning that countries could opt out if they want to. She also emphasised that the fee should be based exclusively on the distance driven and should not be time-dependent, which would bolster more efficient use of roads. European countries curre