MORE than 40 companies in the Western Isles have launched a lobby group to campaign against the Government's decision to withdraw a new charging system for commercial vehicles, which they claim will mean up to 175% increases in ferry fares.
The Outer Hebrides Transport Group says the decision to prevent firms taking advantage of Road Equivalent Tariff (RET) is a tax on every family and business in the islands.
The Scottish Government said last month it was going to roll out RET, which bases fares on the cost of travelling the same distance by road, to the rest of the CalMac network after it delivered up to 50% cuts in ferry fares to the Outer Isles, Coll and Tiree in a pilot scheme.
At the same time it said it would no longer apply to commercial vehicles.
Gail Robertson, of DJ Buchanan Haulage on Benbecula, who is co-ordinator for Outer Hebrides Transport Group, said: "In a matter of days we've seen in excess of 40 companies sign up to this campaign and the number is rising daily.
"It is only in the past couple of weeks that we've all realised what's being proposed. We have support from all sectors of business in the community."
David Wood, owner of the haulage company Woody's Express, which has its HQ in Stornoway, said: "This proposal from the SNP Government is economically illiterate and will have a devastating impact on the islands."
Fares are going up across the CalMac network by 6.5% and a Transport Scotland spokeswoman disputed the claim anyone would face a 175% rise. She said: "The plan is to return hauliers operating to the Western Isles, Coll and Tiree to the same position as hauliers operating to other islands in the Clyde and Hebrides.
"In recognition of the fact that hauliers operating to the Western Isles, Coll and Tiree have benefited from lower fares and may now find it difficult to pay increased fares we are considering how best we can enhance the pre RET discount scheme."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article