In a special comment column in the September-October issue, the magazine says: "We think the potential to track, monitor and respond to fleet movements in real time is amazing, and has brought transport and logistics firmly into the twenty-first century.

"We want to see that technology used more and more widely, and developed to its full potential. We want to see transport operators reaping the rewards, and suppliers profiting from the imagination and commitment they've put into their development work. We want to see them taking that on to the next generation.

"What we don't want to see is the Government hijacking the technology, setting it in tablets of stone, stifling its development with formal specifications and red tape, imposing it willy-nilly on all operators, even those who have no use for it, incurring massive cost and potential disruption in the process, and generally muddying the image of something that should be seen as exciting, forward-looking and beneficial.

"Nor do we particularly like the idea of a system that allows the Government to track the movements of all commercial vehicles all the time, wherever they go. That's effectively what's being proposed. And if the scheme is introduced later for cars (which many believe is the ultimate aim), presumably that will apply to them, too. Ever heard of 1984? We're not laughing."

m.logistics