United we stand...
Page 8
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When Gordon Brown "dumped" the fuel duty escalator in the last Budget, Commercial Motor resisted the urge to join in with the cheering from many quarters of the industry: Britain still faced ludicrously punitive fuel taxes which rose still further as a result of the Budget.
Since then, despite transport forums and select committee reports, nothing has changed about the vicelike situation the industry finds itself in. Every week, we carry stories of smart, hard-working hauliers who are forced to dose their doors because they simply cannot make a living in "rip-off' Britain any more.
That's why it's vital that you support the Dump the Pumps campaign and boycott the forecourts on r August. And your support is also needed for the Dump the Duty protest at Dover on the same day (see page 4), because this isn't just a fight about taxation within Britain, it's about British hauliers being "knobbled" to a point where they simply cannot compete with foreign hauliers working here on cheaper foreign fuel. Where better to make that case than at their main point of entry into the country?
The haulage sector has proved unreliable in its support of days of action up to now but Commercial Motor strongly urges every reader to take part in these two initiatives. With a general election looming and the government currently hyper-sensitive to criticism about its preoccupation with spin thanks to the leaked Blair memo, there's just a chance we might get some real action if we show some real unity at long last.
Stay at home, on the other hand, and it may not be too long before CM has to write a news story about the demise of your company...