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WINNING THE FUEL BATTLE: THE FIGHT STARTS HERE!
Page 10
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As we went to press fuel-strike talk was in the air. We knew Gordon Brown was going to snatch another 1.28p/lit from our pockets, but OPEC's decision to restrict production and thereby force a further increase in fuel prices came as an added blow. So do we understand the kind of desperation that puts law-abiding operators onto the streets? Of course we do. But we have to sound a note of caution.
There's no doubt that unified action by our industry would bring the country to its knees. The Army might be able to offset the worst effect of a firefighters' strike with its Green Goddesses, but if the big distribution fleets parked up food supplies would run short within hours and it's a truism that no society is more than three lost meals away from anarchy. But it's a fine balance between victory and losing the battle and it won't be helped by the government's propaganda machine ensuring that truck operators become pariahs.
Protests certainly have their place, keeping our plight at centre stage. But the battle we have to win won't be won solely on picket lines at fuel refineries because it's a battle for the hearts and minds of the British public. Do they know many hauliers are struggling to make 3% prof it on turnover? Do they know rates are static or falling against a background of spiralling costs? Do they know that cabotage has risen by 600% in three years? Do they know that everything they eat and wear is delivered in a truck? You can make a start in winning that information battle by joining in our sticker campaign we've still got plenty left from last week's offerbut it's also incumbent on everyone involved with road transport, from top to bottom, to take an active role in the positive promotion of our industry.
Take the truck parking crisis we've exposed on page 30. Throughout the country local councils are closing down HGV parks. and when truckers are forced to park up in side streets or industrial estates they face a barrage of abuse or are moved on by the police. Clearly the public and councillors are fairing to make the connection between road transport and the essential part it plays in society. Until that connection is unmistakable we'll struggle from crisis to crisis. This is a battle we can't afford to lose. " It's a truism that no society
is more than three lost meals away from anarchy"