The crippling duty on fuel should be lifted to help keep the County Air Ambulance in the air, the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary candidate for Ludlow and Bridgnorth claimed today.Heather Kidd has called on the Chancellor, Alistair Darling, to take urgent action to alleviate the effects of rising fuel prices on the vital service.
Councillor Kidd said the Shropshire and Powys services, which are running at £50,000 to £75,000 deficits, were having to find even more funding.
She said the rise in the price of fuel was putting the service in jeopardy.
“We are very lucky in our part of the world that we have a number of highly integrated air ambulances that respond to wherever in the West Midlands an emergency occurs,” she said.
“The problem we have in Britain, unlike other countries in Europe, is that this vital service is not fully funded by the Government and relies on the generosity of ordinary people to keep the service going.
“If we are not careful we may see many of these ambulances grounded for lack of funds.
“Effectively, this is another case of the Government not moving quickly enough to address another fuel rise-related problem.
“I will be writing to the Chancellor suggesting that he looks urgently at reducing duties and taxes that air ambulances incur while performing their duties.”
12 Comments
Why should public service vehicles be paying any tax on fuel full stop?
Surely all public service vehicles, even those like the Air Ambulance funded by charity should get their fuel duty-free?
Perhaps we should introduce a special ‘red’ aviation fuel with the dury working in a similar way to ‘red’ diesel?
Doh - Heather gets it wrong again. AVTUR and JET A1 used by the Air Ambulance doesn’t attract fuel duty. SO Peter is right, but the Government got there first.
There’s a serious point to this. Such ill considered remarks might stop donors from giving funds to Air Ambulance services, thinking their money is going to feather the Chancellor’s nest, when it is not. So Heather, on this, as in so many other things, think before you try to grab the headline.
Let’s all campaign for proper government funding for air ambulance services, whether they’re covering long distances to remote locations or beating congestion in urban areas.
It’s odd how a valuable service like the Air Ambulance pays duty and relies on public donations, yet every day I see numerous training helicopters from RAF Shawbury flying over Shropshire. There’s no difficulty finding the money for their fuel!
there is no duty on aviation fuel!!! Are these people insane???
THERE IS NO DUTY ON AVIATION FUEL!!!! Heather got it wrong - what a political storm in a tea cup - she really should check her facts hey?
its my understanding that aviation fuel is exempt from any form of taxation under international treaty??? Further as a charity they will enjoy dicretionary non domestic rate relief, ie they dont pay council tax, so they get alot of subsidies in effect already, however I agree the Councillor has got her facts wrong on this but in princpicle she’s right, we should do more for the air ambulances and the NHS should fund this and hospices as well properly, i for one would pay more income tax gladly for such essential service, but im not sure the voters will
aircaft done pay fuel duty - the councillor has got it wrong here!!!!!
Hang on a second - International treaties forbid tax on aviation fuel. (This dates back to the Chicago Convention signed in 1948, when aviation was a fledgling industry in need of protection)
No aircraft pay tax on their fuel, its totally tax free. Is Mrs Kidd kidding or is she accusing the government of breaking international law and levying a tax just for the air ambulance whilst BA, Ryan Air, Easy Jet et al dont pay any tax…??
ha ha - seems the women got it totally wrong, I hope the paper flags up her mistake and makes her look pretty silly for her innaccurate comments
is there an echo under this bridge?
Such a shame that someone makes an inaccurate comment and all the posts thereafter are dominated by people trying to get one over. Its like reading a script out of the playground !!! grow up children !! The fact of the matter is duty or no duty, the air ambulance fuel bill is rising rapidly. Good on you Heather Kidd for standing behind the air ambulance. You are 100% correct that the service needs more money to keep up with inscreasing fuel costs. Well done for supporting such a worthy cause. Maybe the children on here could divert there energy into something useful for the air ambulance rather than trying to score political points.
Dan, they would but few on here have the inteligence to even understand the issues being discussed.