THE UK motorcycle industry is urging the Government to suspend vehicle excise duty (road tax) and the first registration fee on all new mopeds, scooters and motorcycles for a minimum of one year to support the market and recognise the green advantages of motorcycling.

A tax holiday on new powered two-wheelers (PTWs) would cost only £13m but protect 15,000 jobs by providing an urgently-needed boost to the UK’s motorcycle industry. Encouraging the sales of new PTWs would also help meet greener transport targets - all new PTWs having to comply with strict EU rules on CO2 and pollution emissions. Support for the UK’s motorcycle industry is now urgently needed.

While the market has shown great resilience to date, figures released by the Motor Cycle Industry Association (MCI) show that registrations dropped by 25 per cent in February compared with a year ago. The UK motorcycle industry employs over 15,000 people and turns over more than £3 billion a year. Triumph is the largest, solely UK-owned, automotive manufacturer in the UK, yet Government support packages have been aimed at the car and commercial vehicle sectors, overlooking and in some cases excluding the motorcycle industry – a situation that must now change.

New moped registrations in February fell to 900, down 33 per cent on 2008, and new motorcycles to 3,205, 931 fewer than this period last year, and a fall of 22.5 per cent and greater than the fall in the new car market (21.9 per cent).