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MSP Alasdair Allan, has today welcomed “major progress” on the issue of ferry fares for commercial vehicles after Transport Minister, Keith Brown, announced a package of transitional relief, including £2.5 million this year. This will halve the rates of increase which hauliers would face this year.
Alasdair Allan commented: “The Transport Minister said that he would listen to concerns of businesses on the islands when we met last week, and that he would come back with improvements to his original proposals.
“He has now done this, committing £2.5 million of Scottish Government funding to transitional relief this year, ensuring that the proposed rate of increase on all routes this year is cut by 50% and that all fare increases are capped so no fare increases by more than 50%.
"The Minister has also ensured that vans up to 6m long will also benefit from RET delivering major savings.
"Importantly all these measures will apply equally to small and large companies addressing one of the major problems of the old discount scheme from which only a small number of companies benefited.
“The Transport Minister has also agreed to conduct a six month study into the costs faced by hauliers and the economic impact they have including both ferry fares and fuel costs, information which will feed into the setting of the fares in the future.
“Today's announcement is a major investment by the Government to avoid the sudden and extreme increases about which companies expressed very reasonable concerns and along with the investment in RET for cars is a sign of this government’s continued commitment to the islands."
Allan welcomes extra cash for hauliers 13/2/12