§ 61. Mr. SITCHasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware 2591 that owner-drivers of motor lorries competing with firms owning fleets of lorries are heavily penalised in the payment of licence duty owing to the fact that they are unable to pay the duty yearly and, in paying it quarterly, have to pay £6 a year more; and that firms owning fleets of lorries are able to pay yearly and, in addition, are able to work their lorries night and day for seven days a week, whereas the owner-driver can only work his lorry, at the best of times, eight or nine hours a day; and whether, in connection with the next Budget, he will consider the possibility of altering the incidence of the duty so that owner-drivers will be placed on a more equal footing with competing companies?
§ Lieut.-Colonel ASHLEYI have been asked to reply, and would refer the hon. Member to the answer given on the 5th December to my hon. Friend the Member for Cambridge, of which I am sending him a copy.