Calls for vehicle scrappage scheme in upcoming Budget

Date: Thursday, April 9, 2009

Representatives from vehicle manufacturers, industry bodies, consumer magazines and national press are pushing for a light commercial vehicle and car scrappage scheme to be included as part of the Budget announcements by Chancellor Alistair Darling on 22 April.

The scheme would allow LCVs and cars over nine years old to be scrapped in return for a £2,000 cash incentive towards a new or nearly new vehicle. Similar schemes adopted in France, Germany and Italy have proved successful, significantly boosting the new vehicle market and reducing CO₂ emissions by taking some of the older vehicles off the road.

The German scheme, which offers car owners 2,500 euros (£2,250) for getting rid of any vehicle over nine years old, has attracted more than half a million takers so far, with new vehicle sales soaring 40 per cent there in March.

Edmund King, the president of the AA, said: "The latest figures show the stark difference between a country with a scrappage scheme and one without. A scrappage scheme has the potential to reduce emissions, reduce accidents and their severity while giving a boost to the UK motor industry. There are many benefits from getting older gross polluters off the road."

A survey commissioned recently by the SMMT shows that 76 per cent of consumers are in favour of the UK government introducing a scrappage incentive scheme similar to those currently running across Europe.

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