Finland became the latest European nation to decide against road pricing plans for HGVs. Britain is still thinking about introducing a ‘pay as you go’ scheme for HGVs across the UK. These plans have been rubbished by the FTA and RHA as ‘unworkable’. The pay as you drive option (to replace road tax) would mean the HGV drivers, owners and operators end up paying a fortune in tax - as they travel the highest mileage of any vehicles on the road.

Finland’s transport and communications ministry said in a statement Thursday it had stopped planning a trial of a heavy goods vehicle road pricing scheme for want of a workable technical solution. The government had intended to test an HGV road pricing system in southeastern Finland, which has long experienced congestion in the form of lorries heading for Russia. The ministry said in the statement that the introduction of road pricing would have reduced the area’s competitiveness.  However, the working group that dismissed the road pricing trial also proposed charging vehicles entering a new lorry park to be built in the southeast. The government hopes the 24-million-euro lorry park will ease congestion on roads leading to border crossings.

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