Small was beautiful
Page 10
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The big guns of UK road haulage have expressed enormous admiration for the way the fuel protest was organised—but most decided to stay clear of the protests themselves. Guy Sheppard asks why.
• One of the striking features of last week's protest was that the organisers and supporters were drawn almost exclusively from smaller operators and owner-drivers.
One reason why the major players provided little more than vocal support is that runaway fuel prices are causing them less pain. '9 have a fuel formula in place with the majority of customers so we as a company are protected to a major extent," says Stafford-based Stan Robinson.
Large fleet
He is uniquely placed to see both sides of the argument: he runs a large fleet but also joined the protests at Bromford in Birmingham and Kingsbury in Warwickshire. "I own, operate and am managing director of a 130-truck business but to me I am still a normal working chap," Robinson explains. "I went along on Tuesday and Wednesday night and spent five or six hours to give the lads there some support.
"But a lot of other companies are not protected," he adds. "Not only that, Joe Public is overcharged for fuel as well. It is the first time I have ever been involved in any protest, strike or anything, but I just felt that what they were doing was a good thing."
Another possible reason for big companies' absence could be that they are more wary of upsetting their customers. "The frustration was that one could not actively assist and support a movement that you had a great deal of sympathy with," says one managing director, who wishes to remain anonymous. "But if you are tied in with those sort of customers you can't send your people out to man the barricades because they'll be on the phone to you first thing."
But not all major hauliers support the idea of protests in the first place. Edward Stobart says: "I don't believe in blockades—we criticise the French and then do the same thing." Stobart still believes talking to the government is the way forward: "We need 30p a litre off to get us in line with the French. It's very serious and the government are not grasping the problem at all."
Despite the severe strain that the protest caused, most hauliers seem convinced that it will prove beneficial. John Clark, managing director of Spaldingbased Hargrave International, says: "It has been achieved mostly by the smaller people of the business and they have done so very effectively. I have been very, very impressed with what they have done. They have brought to a head things which have been bubbling under the surface for the past two years and which had got nowhere."
Clark reports that his fleet of 90 tractors, which concentrates on refrigerated transport, ran out of fuel on Thursday but was on the move again by Friday, missing less than 5% of its deliveries.
Liam 011iff, company secretary of Transfrigoroute, the trade group for temperaturecontrolled distribution, says: "We are delighted it took place. On the other hand we, like everyone else, are not so delighted that it has had to take such drastic action to convince an otherwise deaf government that commercial transport is a key part of the British economy. But it would be very difficult for me to request that people stop delivering food and let it spoil so they could stand on the picket line."
Go-slow protest
David Pink, divisional managing director of Dodds Group, told his depot managers that they could support any go-slow protest on the motorways, provided no time-sensitive loads were involved. But he says that if fuel supplies had been withheld any longer the industry would have been shooting itself in the foot.
"I was discussing with members of staff about going up to the picket line and pleading to let us have some fuel," he says. "We ensured we kept going and continued operating. Our company would not have been in any way the same size and capacity it is now if it had closed for two weeks."
Three of the four fuel deliveries that Dodds should have received at the beginning ot the week did not arrive. "I had trailers that were carrying fuel from depot to depot to balance stocks," he reports. Some red diesel was obtained from clients but that supply was interrupted after the company was told that it first needed to inform Customs and Excise.
Big operators generally back the 60-day deadline set by the protesters for the government to respond to their demands.
David Pink says: "They have given them a way out because the deadline purposely goes through to the pm-Budget statement in November." Liam 011iff says it would have been wrong to insist on an immediate climb-down: "You have to be realistic that you can't make policy on the hoof. It would be naive to suggest that the government could introduce a completely new transport policy in the space of just a day. If the government has acknowledged that they can come up with a preliminary measure in the 60 days, it is a good thing."
David Ham, managing director of Cheshire-based David Irlam 86 Sons, which has a fleet of 320 trucks, agrees: "We need some answers, even if the change isn't until the next Budget. We don't want the shock of it on Budget day."
If the government does not respond by the time the deadline is up, it might find large operators such as Ham far more prominent in any follow-up protest. David Ham says: "We felt that there were enough people on the picket lines and the message was getting through very fast. I think they have done a fantastic job and built up a lot of respect from the nation. They've done it without a lot of heir) from big operators like ourselves. Next time, if there was an organised plan and the hauliers and industry as a whole felt it was the right way forward, we would certainlyjoin it."
Practical support
This belief is echoed by the managing director of another major haulage company: "The sympathy and moral support that was very evident on this action might become practical support on the next action. Then it would be a very serious problem for the government. Imagine if two or three operators committed 50 to 60 trucks to the protest.
"Strategically placed," he adds, "they would have made the situation even worse and perhaps more effective as well."