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The RHA and Logistics UK are among more than 30 signatories of an open letter to the UK Prime Minister and EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier, urging them to agree to an “economically sensible” outcome to Brexit negotiations.

The letter, which is also addressed to UK negotiator David Frost, states that ending the transition period on 31 December without an agreement between the EU and UK is “not an option” for road hauliers.

It said: “It is in the interest of all parties to allow HGVs to move back and forth between the EU and the UK and transit through their respective territories in a way that is economically viable, without resorting to the reintroduction of haulage permits and quota systems that were never intended to cover volumes of trade as high as those currently taking place between the EU and the UK.”

It added that without a reciprocal solution, all sides would be left with “a disheartening choice between a patchwork of fragmented national arrangements, and a world where the shortage of transport capacity on EU-UK routes is endorsed as official policy.

“Either option would be to everyone’s loss,” it said.

A ‘Kent Access Permit’ is currently being designed to ensure goods travelling across the Channel have already completed documentation to pass customs in advance and avoid a worst case scenario of 7,000 lorries stuck in queues.

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