FUEL FOR THOUGHT
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How nice to be a fuel company supplying a motorway service area; particularly on the M25. By the sheer law of averages, sooner or later some truck driver is going to need diesel. And when you're the only fuel provider for miles around there's no doubt about whose diesel he'll be buying. Yours. Given this all-but-captive market it would be nice to think that MSA operators and their fuel suppliers wouldn't take advantage of the situation by charging excessive prices for fuel. With their throughput surely they could afford to ease up on margins. Nice to think—naive to expect. Faced with a 13p/lit premium on diesel a driver and his boss might well exclaim: "What a rip-off!" But what Elf and Road Chef are doing is perfectly legal; they're simply taking advantage of free-market conditions. But there's taking advantage...and taking downright liberties. Of course many hauliers would rather run dry than buy fuel on a motorway. However, the Clacket Lane story in this week's issue merely illustrates how fuel prices have got out of hand. And who sits back with catlike unctuousness while the fuel-duty escalator sends operators to the wall? Step forward the Treasury, the Department of Transport—and the Government's idiotic environmental advisors who still believe that taxing an essential industry like roadfreight will have an effect on CO2 emissions. What about the 23-million (and rising) cars? As fuel prices spiral it's small wonder that some hauliers are tempted to dip into the red— diesel that is (see story, left). But it's a small gain for a big risk. How big? How about vehicle confiscation for starters, then substantial fines, courtesy of HM Customs and Excise. Mind you, if red diesel offences do rise in 1999 it would be nice to think that the Government, and the nation's fuel suppliers., might stop to ask why some hauliers are taking such a risk with their businesses. There we go, being naive again...