FTA boss slams fuel protests
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• Richard Turner, the new chief executive of the Freight Transport Association, has slammed last September's fuel protests, claiming they did nothing to help the industry.
He says that the only thing the demonstrations and go-slows achieved was positive media coverage for the hauliers' plight—and once the blockades were under way the public mood quickly turned against them.
He says: "The protesters did nothing to help our cause at all. Civil disobedience has cost industry a lot of money and while it's impossible to quantify, some people have told me that it is the roughly the same amount as the Chancellor's concessions to us.
"The FTA is not here to make or break governments, create general elections or interfere with the democratic process," he adds.
Turner angrily rejects as "absolute nonsense" suggestions that the FTA has not done enough to campaign for cheaper fuel.
"We protested in a way that was respectable in a democratic society with a strength and anger that our industry has not seen before," he says. "Our members protested more than anybody else."
However, Mark Francis, leader of the People's Fuel Lobby, dismisses Turner's claims: "My personal opinion is that if the protests hadn't happened we wouldn't have had the tax rebates.
"Yes, the FTA helped towards it," he adds, "but they have been stuck in the same quagmire for years and haven't got anywhere, so I have little interest in what they say."