Pre-emptive strike...?
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How convenient that just days before it was due to be lobbied by thousands of irate hauliers demanding relief from punitive fuel prices, the Government should issue a press release headed: "Recent survey reveals fleet managers' ignorance of fuel costs." Funny co-incidence that...
According to the release, from the DOT's own Energy Efficiency Bureau, of the 265 fleets surveyed "only 30% knew their total expenditure on fuel while only 2.0% knew how much fuel their fleets actually consumed"!
It went on to twist the knife further: "With fuel duty set to rise annually by 6% above inflation, there's never been a greater need to control fuel costs." And who's set to increase fuel duty annually by 6%? Why, the Government of course!
The same Government that's strangling the nation's road hauliers with 6% year-on-year fuel duty rises also thinks that if they only took advantage of the EEB's Energy Efficiency Best Practice Programme, they'd not only save 1.220M a year but would also cut CO, emissions by over a million tonnes. Oh really?
If the Government wants to save energy and protect the environment, it should try offering operators fiscal incentives to trade in older, less efficient and more polluting trucks for cleaner, greener models with Euro-2 and 3 engines. It may be that only 30% of all operators know what their total expenditure on diesel is. But we're damn sure that since this Government came to power r00% of all operators have been paying too much for it.
• Brian Weatherley, Editor