Introduction of "Platon" results in growth of prices in stores, truckers of Southern Russia report

In Russia, with the introduction of the "Platon" system, profit of truck owners has fallen significantly. Meanwhile, the new toll has already caused a sharp growth of food prices in the stores in the Volgograd Region. This was reported by participant of the protest action held in the Moscow Region. They expect that the authorities will pay attention to their protest and begin to search for a compromise.

Truck driver Vladimir Glazko is registered as an individual entrepreneur in Volgograd, and he is engaged in the transportation of goods within the territory of Russia. He believes it is an unacceptable situation when a driver will add the new toll to the final cost of a good.

Vladimir Glazko has noted that his relatives do not enjoy any benefits while purchasing goods in stores, and thus, he loses money finally, since the final price of the goods will grow because of the new toll and the driver's income will stay unchanged.

The truck driver believes that after the introduction of the toll for trucks, the authorities will introduce similar tools for passenger cars, non-commercial vehicles.

Vitaly Voiskov, a truck driver from Leninsk, has described the additional costs to be incurred by trucks owners after the introduction of the toll. Now, a truck "should be equipped with a PC" or a truck driver should get a mobile phone with an access to the Internet. Meanwhile, some drivers got accustomed to simple "push-button" mobile phones without Internet connection.

According to the protesters, about 90 percent of trucks are bought on loans, and not all of them are able to pay off their loans, since the size of the debts may exceed one million roubles.

Truck drivers declare their intention to start a dialogue with the authorities, and they want to "be heard".

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.