1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202 
What about a rebate?
Page 9
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Barry Proctor was impressed by the SNP's promise of an essential-user rebate... pity those canny Scots won't be campaigning in the Potteries!
The Woridng Time Directive has been an all-consuming passion of the haulage industry for as long as I can remember. I'm told that at the recent CV show 90% of the questions asked on the RHA stand were related to it: understandable when it came into force just a couple of weeks ago and has long been predicted as being the biggest upheaval this industry has ever seen... at least since the last time.
The upshot of this is that the majority of people have been distracted and seemingly haven't noticed the inexorable rise in the price of fuel. Whether it's because it's always there, or that it's sometimes accepted as being just one of those things we have to put up with (whereas the WTD is clearly a new and baffling problem for us all) I just don't know. Anyway, I seem to have heard very few voices complaining about the cost of diesel — even the RHA and FTA seem to have been strangely silent on the issue of late.
Of course you might argue that the fuel price rising just before the election is handy in a way. A big issue like this helps you feel extra motivated to vote. I'm not going to say which way my political allegiance lies and I don't want to know the way you're going to vote either. But you should be considering which political party deserves your support. Personally I was hoping to vote SNP as they seem to be the only party thinking of giving the haulage industry an essential-user rebate. Unfortunately I don't think Alex Salmond is considering fielding a candidate in the Potteries, so, like everyone else south of Scotland and east of Wales, I'm stuck with the usual suspects.
An essential user rebate would benefit the UK economy as a whole, and in light of events down the road at Longbridge it can't come soon enough. What might be interesting is if the rocketing diesel price prompts some sort of direct action — it would certainly see a lot of pre-election promises made by all sides that might, possibly, be kept once we've all cast our votes. Barry Proctor owns Barry Proctor Services in Sloke-on-Trent.
"I was hoping to vote SNP as they seem to be thinking of giving the haulage industry an essential-user rebate"