CAN'T PAY WON'T STAY
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• "The main worry for me is fuel costs. Our customers have so far been very good with surcharges.. ,but it can't go on for ever." In January Commercial Motor published an exclusive survey on the hopes and fears of 200 small hauliers looking at their prospects for 1991. In the light of the Chancellor's decision to whack a 15% increase on diesel duty, that comment from a hard-pressed Darlington haulier is proving unpleasantly prophetic. An extra 3p on a litre of diesel is the last thing that hauliers need right now, especially after the volatility of dery prices during the Gulf crisis.
The real question is whether any of their customers are likely to be willing to share the burden. If our experience is anything to go by the answer is a resounding no — and that means that the average operator is going to have to swallow an extra 2% on operating costs based on today's fuel prices; or 3.5% on pre-Gulf Crisis prices.
Buyers of transport have got the road haulage industry exactly where they want it: desperate for work, strapped for cash, and forced to engage in cut-throat rate cutting. There'll always be somebody willing to do the work, even if it means backsliding on maintenance or cheating on drivers hours. If ever there was a case against fixed-price contracts this is it.
Some operators may comfort themselves with the fact that at least Vehicle Excise Duty has been frozen. But as current levels of fuel tax and VED mean that hauliers are already exceeding their allocated track costs to the tune of hundreds of millions of pounds it is particularly cold comfort.
There is at least some by in terms of tax concessions on vocational training — at least there would be if the Government deigned to award vocational status to the CPC. The RHA is pushing hard on this one, but even if it succeeds, what's the use of training if there are no jobs to go to? Increased costs will sound the death knell for hundreds of small hauliers. The Chancellor proudly called this a 'Budget for Business'. For many hauliers it will be bitterly recalled as the Budget that put them out of business.