Van seller: “New vehicle emissions duty is having reverse effect"

Tuesday 09 January 2018

A local garage owner has said that a tax hike on polluting vehicles that came into force this year is already affecting business, having already lost him several vehicle sales.

Tony Roberts, owner of Nelson Street Vans since 1998, said that the higher Vehicle Emissions Duty (VED) has led to customers “keeping unroadworthy, high polluting vehicles on our roads” – something not only bad for business, but the reverse effect of what the levy was intended to do.

“We have had three vehicles cancelled in the first week of trading in 2018, and it’s only going to continue. God knows what the rest of the year will be like,” he told Express.

The higher duty rate was approved in the 2018 budget debate last November. 

Pictured: Owner of Nelson Street Van Sales believes more people will keep hold of their old vans as they can't afford the VED increase. 

During the debate, States members supported an amendment by the Constable of Grouville to increase the duty calculated on the level of CO2 emissions or engine size by 5%, rather than the 2.5% increase (in line with RPI) put forward by the Treasury Minister.

The Assembly also backed a second change by the Constable of Grouville: to lower all of the VED bands, therefore making more vehicles eligible for the charge. It was a further move from the Treasury Minister’s suggestion of just lowering the first band of charges from cars emitting 100g CO2/km to cars emitting 50g CO2/km.

Together, the votes will generate an extra £2.2 million in tax revenue in 2018.

Pictured: Constable John Le Maistre's vehicle emission duty proposals were described as a 'step in the right direction' within the States 2018 budget debate. 

Describing his amendments, Constable John Le Maistre wrote: “This is not an excessive amount and should speed up the improvement in air quality... Most car manufacturers have made commitments that they will be leading towards all electric vehicles by 2040, which will lead to much cleaner air. Why wait that long? We can take action now that will gradually improve air quality. Would it not be an achievement to be able to take down the signs at each end of the Tunnel indicating that the air quality is poor?”

He added: “It is not clear how much influence VED has on consumers when they are choosing a new car. It must be the case that the higher the duty, the more likely consumers will opt for less polluting cars.”

But Mr Roberts disagrees. “It will have the reverse effect of what it’s trying to do. We’re going to end up with more old, battered vans on the roads," he explained, as some of the bands have increased by up to 177% - not the 5% as agreed within the Budget debate. 

Pictured: 2017 (left) and 2018 (right) vehicle emission duty bands and rates for all vehicles except restricted speed agricultural tractors.  

That's because, where the cylinder capacity bands have relatively stayed the same and therefore only gone up by 5% in each category, the changes to the bands in the CO2 emission table have recategorised some specifications in much higher bands - therefore resulting in a huge price hike.

“Many people don’t understand (the VED) - they think 5% is ok until we tell them the price of the vehicle with the VED on top. One customer stretched his finances to get a van priced about £9,000 to £9,500, but I had to tell him ‘I’m really sorry but the new charge because of the VED increase is now £11,000.’ The guy said he couldn’t afford that so has kept his old van on the road,” Mr Roberts recalled.

He added: “It’s had a massive impact on the business and it’s detrimental to the economy and on our carbon footprint.”

The commercial vans garage owner posted a message on various Facebook forums at the weekend in a bid to warn drivers of the impact of the higher VED, as he felt: “…the public are definitely not fully aware.”

Pictured: Tony Roberts took to Facebook to warn islanders of the impact the increased duty is having.

It reads: “…people & small company's (sic) just can't afford to replace their old high polluting vehicles, not everybody is rich in Jersey and certainly can't afford £30,000 for the one & only small type of electric van on the market.”

Mr Roberts has branded the States decision on the changes to the duty as a “blindfolded message that’s gone through.

“I don’t think States members even knew what they were voting on. I think it needs to go back to the house and thrown out.”

 Express has contacted States officials for a comment, and is awaiting a response.