RHA Coach member calls for fuel duty rebate for sector

RHA member Stanley Travel has pressed the government for a fuel duty rebate for the coach industry in a piece for Bus and Coach Buyer magazine.

Director Andrew Scott said he was paying twice as much for fuel as the start of the year – and school contracts were priced at 2017 levels. He told the magazine that they were “absorbing the expense” until July and would have had to renegotiate the price if there was a couple of years left on the contract.

He said that the price rise for passengers “didn’t come as a surprise” as motorists are already impacted themselves by the cost of fuel at the pumps.

Scott said he believed coaches should have the same rebate as the bus industry and although leisure trips are non-essential, school work and rail replacement services are.

RHA view

We are calling for an essential user fuel duty rebate for both coaches and hauliers which would help with the cost of living and the wider economy.

By taking 15ppl of the cost of fuel for hauliers, coach operators and other essential users of the road, like the German and other European governments have done for the commercial vehicle sector, this cut can be taken off the cost of goods and services, resulting in a real-terms decrease for consumers in the supermarket or high street.

Other schemes

Other fuel duty rebate schemes already exist for this primary purpose, for example, the Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) – currently offering rebates of 34.57 pence-per-litre for bus operators – keeps the costs of fares down for hard-hit customers.

The same approach can therefore also be taken for embattled coach operators, helping to ease costs for customers.