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LET THE PUBLIC PAY
Page 9
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Fasten your seatbelts. This week, Brian Weatheriey attempts to reconcile three distinct, yet distinctlyrelated, topics which ultimately define what's wrong with the industry.
Are we about to see a new wave of fuel protests? The RHA claims "emotions are running high..." I don't doubt it for a minute. They'll certainly be running high within the two trade associations, as it's clearly not in their interests to have freewheeling operators camped outside oil refineries or staging motorway go-slows. Such independent action shifts the spotlight away from the "voices of reason" and puts it firmly on the protesters, many of whom have little truck with the trade associations already Just think of the publicity they'd get. Imagine too the fall-out if those same free spirits actually achieved what the RHA and FTA have so far failed to deliver. Of course it's bad enough watching the price of diesel lift-off like a Patriot missile. What really hacks off operators is the money the Treasury rakes In as a consequence. Yet the question we should all be asking is not: 'Why is diesel so expensive?' but: "Why can't price Increases simply be passed on to customers?" Yes, why IS that?
Years ago the vast majority of operators handed over the bower to set rates to their customers and they never got it back. If only they could control their own economic destiny a diesel price hike wouldn't amount to a hill of beans. When local authorities charge low-cost airlines higher landing fees they wring their handsand pass them on to the punter. Has It damaged their business? I don't think so. Environmentalists have long since insisted that the true cost of road haulage isn't being paid for. It isn'tby customers, and especially consumers. Lowering the price of diesel won't ever resolve this perennial fundamental flaw. Rather than endlessly struggling for short-term gains, the road transport industry has to adopt a new strategy and a new battle cry. "Running trucks isn't cheap it's time everyone paid for the benefits they bring!"
• Don't forget to click on Brian Weatherley's own "biglorryblog" on www.bizbuzzmedia.com
If only they could control their own economic destiny a diesel price hike wouldn't amount to a hill of beans"