THE Association of Car Fleet Operators has protested to Transport Minister Gavin Strang about his plan to introduce a £25 first registration fee and urged all its members to write to their local MPs protesting. And Norman Donkin, secretary general of the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association, whose members buy more than 600,000 new vehicles a year, has written to Strang urging the minister to meet a delegation of chief executives from major rental and contract hire companies.

ACFO director Stewart Whyte, who is also the managing director of Petersfield-based vehicle fleet consultancy Fleet Audits, has already written to his local MP Michael Mates complaining at the proposed introduction of the 'new tax' and urging him to oppose its introduction. In the letter Whyte says two main concerns are 'virtually universal':

On Thursday the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders and Retail Motor Industry Federation met Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency civil servants to discuss the proposed £25 fee. RMI chief executive Christopher Macgowan said it had been a 'difficult' meeting and added: 'We registered very strongly our shock at this unexpected proposal and I hope they realised how strongly we feel about it.'

An angry Eddie West, accounting services manager at Honeywell Control Systems, said the £25 registration fee would cost the company £10,0000-£12,500 a year based on current purchasing patterns. 'If this is the policy of the Labour Government it will be confrontation not consultation from a fleet industry point of view,' he said. 'What do we get for it? It is a complete con.'