asked the Minister of Transport, following the introduction of tachographs, if he will consider the taxation of heavy lorries according to annual mileage.

The Government propose to restructure vehicle excise duty on goods vehicles over 12 tonnes gross weight on the basis of gross weight and number of axles. The track cost calculations, which will influence relative VED levels, take account of average annual mileages for each individual vehicle category. It would not, however, be practicable to take account of variations in the mileages of individual vehicles in the VED structure.