Can the last haulier turn off the lights?
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joanna.bourke@rbi.co.uk
FAIRFUELUK campaigners continue to rally support for their call to scrap the planned duty rise on 1 April as the Road Haulage Association (RHA) warns that bulk diesel has hit an all-time high of 114.2ppl.
And with just six days to go until the Budget, Derek Linch Haulage has been forced to close (see box), making it the second haulier in two weeks to fold citing rising fuel costs. Joseph Rice & Sons collapsed last week (CM 10 March).
The RHA Weekly Fuel Price Survey shows diesel has risen by 23.14ppl since November 2009 to 114.2ppl as of 11 March, adding, it says, £10,000 to the annual cost of running a typical large lorry.
In addition, the Freight Transport Association’s (FTA) daily bulk diesel price from EnergyQuote JHA showed a high of 113.23ppl on 14 March. A year ago, bulk diesel was trading at 95.67ppl.
RHA director of policy Jack Semple says: “It goes without saying that George Osborne must abandon the planned inflationary duty increase planned for 1 April.” On Monday (14 March), the RHA, FTA and FairFuelUK campaign leader Peter Carroll presented a giant cheque valued at £26.2bn to the Treasury showing the total tax take of fuel duty paid by motorists and hauliers in 2010.
Carroll says: “Numerous haulage operators have ceased trading because of this excessive duty, so we will keep putting pressure on the government right up until the Budget on 23 March to ensure more companies don’t follow suit.” Jim Dodd, chairman of Dodd’s Transport in Sittingbourne, Kent, tells CM he was paying 110ppl a little over a fortnight ago, but this has now risen to 114ppl.
He says he would be concerned if there was another duty rise, because hauliers are already struggling as diesel prices are so unstable. As CM went to press, 135 MPs had signed the FairFuelUK petition as well as 139,000 petitioners.