We have a fleet of 200 vans. I am confident that we can manage the fleet so that 90% of use is business or driving to and from work.

I don’t think anyone can guarantee that their vehicles are never used for any private use in any circumstances. We need to know the detailed guidelines that HMRC will use.

Will it accept a small level of private mileage? ie will it work to the spirit of the regulations?

Otherwise we are taking a large gamble that an inspector will seek to recover a huge amount of tax and national insurance. This puts us in a huge quandary. Do we assume private mileage and a £3,000 benefit-in-kind tax loading which could make us uncompetitive and possibly lose contracts?

Or do we take a gamble on HMRC being unreasonable and imposing a charge somewhere along the line? I hope the boys in Whitehall will actually listen to the industry and come up with a 90/10 split of business to private. The devil is in the detail.

John Scott
Group finance director, Carter Thermal Industries

SIR – I must address one point in Trevor Gelken’s guest opinion piece. I have to disagree with his view that the forthcoming BIK charge rate of £3000 on vans ‘isn’t really a bad deal’.

It seems to me that the new rate is most unfair to van drivers.

Many vans are vastly inferior to cars when it comes to private use, taking the family out for example.

In view of this, I fail to see why van drivers should be required to pay the same, or more tax than a company car driver.

Mike Clayton
Fleet manager, Garndene Communication Systems, Huddersfield

TG: the £3,000 BIK charge which comes in to force in April 2007 is in fact a loading on the employee’s tax bill, so drivers will only have to pay either 22% or 40% of that figure per year. For a 22% taxpayer, this equates to £660 per annum.

Congestion on purpose

SIR – I refer to the article ‘Road congestion is a deliberate ploy, claim fleets’ (Fleet News, April 27) which reported on the North West regional meeting of Acfo. In particular, I would comment on the suggestion of engineered congestion, with which I would tend to agree.

I regularly use the A456 and A38N into and out of Birmingham and both of these highways have traffic light-controlled junctions with lanes that reduce immediately afterwards.

Apart from the starting grid effect, it is also noticeable that one does not get green lights in any sequence.

I have never been able to establish the logic of widening a two-lane highway to three lanes just before the lights and reducing back to within a hundred yards or so afterwards.

Alan D Crowhurst
Cleobury Mortimer, Shropshire