HC Deb 12 June 1995 vol 261 cc401-2W
Ms Walley

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what estimate he has made of the saving to his Department from closing two traffic area offices; [27873]

(2) what estimate he has made of the saving to an average coach or bus operator in operator licensing fees per vehicle per year from closing two traffic area offices; [27870]

(3) what estimates he has made of the saving to an average haulage operator in operator licence and vehicle fees per vehicle per year from closing two traffic area offices. [27872]

Mr. Norris

No estimates have been made by the Department of the savings to operators of closing two traffic area offices.

Ms Walley

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the average coach or bus operator pays in operator licence fees per vehicle per year; what element of this is directly attributed to traffic area office costs excluding his Department's headquarters and central on-costs; and what estimate he has made of the average running costs of an average coach or bus. [27869]

Mr. Norris

The cost of the licence for a PSV operator is £54 per vehicle per year; approximately £18 or 33.5 per cent. of the fee is directly attributed to traffic area office costs. The average annual running costs, for a new 53-seater diesel bus was estimated at the year end of 1993 to be £28,306. Running costs include depreciation, maintenance, fuel, tyres and lubricants.

Ms Walley

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of what the average haulage operator pays in operator licence fees, licence and vehicle fee, per vehicle per year; what element of this is directly attributed to traffic area office costs excluding his Department's headquarters' costs and central on-costs; and what estimate he has made of the annual running costs of an average heavy good vehicle. [27871]

Mr. Norris

The costs of operator licensing based on an average operator with three vehicles are £665 for a five-year licence. This produces an average annual cost of £133 or £44.33 per vehicle per annum. Traffic area office costs represent approximately 27 per cent. of the total costs of goods operator licensing which amounts to an average cost of £11.97 per vehicle per annum.

Annual running costs of operating a heavy goods vehicle are not calculated by the Department.