UK's poor transport network 'tarnishes' business reputation

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has issue a stark warning to the government today, accusing it of failing to improve a transport system that was "tarnishing" the UK's reputation as a place to do business.

In its report, the CBI claimed that the UK's domestic transport system was being "outperformed by international competitors", including the US, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.

The report said that more than 85% of senior business people believed investment decisions were influenced by the quality of transport, while almost 70% considered the UK transport system "to be poor".

The CBI praised the UK's strong international air and sea links but warned that capacity was reaching "breaking point", with improvements hampered by "slow decision-making".

The report cited statistics showing that UK commuters were most likely to encounter congestion on the drive to work. Nineteen per cent of UK drivers experienced congestion on a routine basis, compared with 7% in France and 4% in Germany, the report claimed.

Road congestion, which costs up to £20 billion a year, was also highlighted. The UK has doubled its motorway network over the past 30 years, the French network has increased by over four times.

In addition, businesses moving freight by road in the UK face higher direct costs than European competitors - more than twice as much as firms in the Netherlands, for example. The past success of UK logistics operators in finding ways of containing these costs is now being threatened by growing congestion. And UK rail reliability was found to be 83% reliable, compared with 93% in the US and 91% in France and Germany.

John Cridland, CBI Deputy Director-General, said: "The legacy of under investment in transport by successive governments is well known, but transport has been a thorn in the side of the UK economy for too long. The existing system has been pushed to breaking point. Despite completion of some individual schemes, we have not made enough progress expanding capacity and encouraging more efficient use of our infrastructure."

(gmcg)