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COMMENT

19th November 1998
Page 10
Page 10, 19th November 1998 — COMMENT
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Keywords : Haulage, Gold Farming

PARALLEL UNIVERSE

Life's full of little parallels. Take road haulage and farming. While British truck operators are being bled dry by the Treasury, farmers in "less favourable" areas are divvying up a £120m Government hand-out. More than 75% of UK 0-licence holders have five trucks or fewer, while more than 40% of the 140,000 farms in the UK could be classified as "small farms". Is there a message there? According to the BBC, the aid package came as a result of the demonstrations held throughout the country by hard-pressed farmers. Another parallel, perhaps? Farmers Weekly editor Stephen Howe is a touch more circumspect: "It helped, and got public sympathy on their side, but the Government's really worried about hill farmers and very concerned about the impact on the population in those areas that rely on farming." And what about those people who are employed within, or directly reliant upon, road haulage? Isn't that another parallel? A large proportion of the £120m will go to hill farmers, estimated to number around 30,000 in Britain—which is uncannily close to the number of small (1-5-truck) operators. But the real long-term problem, says Howe, "is that food is too cheap. When you're talking about return on sale for farmers, there isn't any." Substitute "haulage" for "farming" and you've got the whole road transport problem in a nutshell. What were we saying about parallels? Are there any more to be made? Beyond the fact that hauliers are no less necessary than farmers, probably not. The one remaining question must be: how is it that farmers have managed to wring a cash concession from the Government when road hauliers haven't? Answers, please, to the British Road Transport Industry, Dun Haulin', Uppacreek...

Tags

Organisations: £120m Government
People: Stephen Howe

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