NEEDLESS DISPUTE
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With all the fuss over fuel protests dying down, at least for the time being, my feelings have moved from anger over the crazy prices we have to pay, through pride in the lads who made the stand so effective, to to frustration and regret because the whole situation need never have arisen.
This government, like the Tories before them, must have access to data on every industry. That being so, their civil servants must have told them that profit margins are so tight in haulage that spiralling fuel prices would force more and more businesses to the wall. Instead of talking like a playground bully, Tony Blair really ought to ask himself why an industry as ferociously competitive as ours has finally been prepared to take trucks off the road to get publicity for our plight. Forget your threats, Tony, we're too desperate to care.
Duncan Weatherall, Stroud, Glos.