Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt’s budget of 6 March drew a tepid response from the coach and bus industry and its representatives, with those announcements that have a direct impact on the sector generating a mixed reaction.
Trade body RHA welcomed Mr Hunt’s decision to again hold fuel duty and maintain the 5ppl temporary cut introduced two years ago. The latter will now end on 22 March 2025. For a coach covering 50,000 miles per annum at 10mpg, it will be worth around £1,140.
RHA has also applauded the decision to extend full expensing to leased vehicles and assets. That “should provide significant support to coach operators and hauliers, particularly those affected by higher interest rates,” the Association says. It is less enamoured with the lack of action to assist uptake of alternative fuels in the sectors that it represents, however.
In papers released following Mr Hunt’s address, the government says that his decision to hold fuel duty at current rates sits against what had been “an expected increase.”
However, the Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT) has advised members that any such claim should be treated with caution. It notes that the tax has not increased since 2011 and that any uplift in a likely election year was always a remote possibility.
CPT also cautions that various other tax giveaways will be at least part-funded by public spending cuts, which could make even more difficult the task of securing investment in coach and bus policies.
Meanwhile, Phil Hitchen (pictured above), who is Managing Director of operator Belle Vue Manchester, has also weighed in with a lukewarm response to Mr Hunt’s measures, describing his address as “not a particularly exciting announcement.”
However, Mr Hitchen notes that the cut to national insurance is likely to save the average coach driver around £400 per year, and that small businesses and startups using smaller minibuses may benefit from the VAT threshold rising to £90,000 from 1 April. Coach hire is zero-rated.
He adds that the new earnings threshold for eligibility for child benefit will benefit some employees, but that aside, Mr Hitchen says he “can appreciate how some of the opposition see the budget as ‘more for more’ and ‘less for less’.”
