Battle over 'ruinous' port taxes issue set to go to Lands Tribunal

RMS Group's chief executive Peter Aarosin said the company's case will come up in the Lands Tribunal on January 11 and he is hoping for a speedy outcome.

"We can not get a decent dialogue with the Government over this and so the next stage has to be through litigation with the Lands Tribunal next Monday," said Mr Aarosin. "No one in our industry is going to take this rates nonsense lying down. There is too much at stake for our industry," he added.

The fierce row erupted following a review of port ratings carried out by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA), which aimed to ensure that all businesses were rated fairly.

As a result, some port businesses, including those in the Humber, received backdated rates liabilities to April 1, 2005.

Mr Aarosin added: "The whole thing is unbelievable. It is having a huge effect because, potentially, there are a lot of businesses that will collapse because of it. A few have already had to throw in the towel and go into receivership."

RMS, which has a turnover of more than 30m, has bases in Hull, Grimsby, Immingham and the Trent ports, and also operates the covered steel terminal at Goole.

Financial director of RMS Group David Johnson said: "There is no doubt that this Government has brought the UK ports industry to the brink of ruin by its incompetent handling of new dock rates system."

He added that RMS Group alone has been lumbered with a rates bill of 5m. "This has happened in a year when we have faced the worst trading conditions ever experienced with cargo down by four to five million metric tons," he said.

RMS Group said that in spite of the Government's handling of the tax, it has received strong support from local Labour MPs Ian Cawsey and Austin Mitchell.

"We were even told that Lord Mandleson was on our side," said Mr Johnson. "But none of them could persuade this Government to see sense and cease trying to defend the incompetence of the Valuation Office Agency." The group has also received support from the Tories led by Lord Bates. Tory leader David Cameron has also backed the campaigners.

The Conservatives are understood to be committed to getting rid of the backdated tax if they win at the next general election.

"On the Conservative side Lord Bates won three votes on our behalf in the House of Lords," said Mr Johnson. "We have also had the support of the Treasury Select Committee over the abolition of this backdated bill. But unbelievably, there still is no solution."

RMS Group has been forced to put growth plans on hold until the row is resolved.

Mr Aarosin said he has spied two potential acquisitions on the Continent, which he is keen to pursue, but his hands are tied because of the uncertainty currently facing port operators.

"We are keen on growing our company in terms of acquisitions. But we can't make any investments until we know where we stand.

"If we expand now and commit to a large investment and then the Government says you have got to pay the rates, we will be in a terrible position."

Mr Aarosin said the backdated rates demands had dealt businesses, which were already being hit by the recession, a double blow. Trade at RMS had fallen by 25 per cent in the last year and he had subsequently made 30 staff out of a 300-strong workforce redundant.

Shipments of steel have been hit the hardest because of difficulties in the car industry, but Mr Aarosin said the amount of work was starting to increase, with exports leading the way.

"There are a lot of new opportunities and more business is starting to come in. Now we need to have stable, solid growth," he said.

In October the company unveiled a new machine to unload ships at Hull docks which could increase the amount of cargo the port handles by 25 per cent.

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