§ Mr. Leslie Huckfieldasked the Minister of Transport what consideration his Department has given to a system of heavy goods vehicle excise licences based upon the gross or plated weight instead of unladen weight of vehicles.
§ Mr. MarshThe arguments for and against a change of this sort have been considered and are pretty evenly balanced. Plated weights would certainly be an acceptable basis for taxation but plating does not apply to some special types of goods vehicle or to any of the lighter ones. Using unladen weight works reasonably well and there seems no clear advantage in making a change at present.