Fuel retailers get together to lobby against duty increases
Page 7
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
By Christopher Walton
THE PETROL Retailers’ Association (PRA) and the Taxpayers’ Alliance have joined forces to conduct rival fuel duty lobbying to FairFuelUK.
The PRA will provide its members, independent fuel retailers, a stand to place next to tills or on pumps that provides details of the amount of tax any consumer pays when buying fuel at the forecourt.
Matthew Sinclair, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, which will supply the stands, says: “Fuel duty is an excessive and unfair burden. Businesses also struggle with rising costs moving their goods. Fuel duty should at least be frozen for the rest of this parliament.” PRA chairman Brian Madderson says: “The fuel tax stand is the perfect way to explain to customers that far from profiteering from high fuel prices, fuel retailers are also suffering as the government takes 60% of the cost of every litre, which amounts to more than £30bn total ‘tax take’ from forecourts every year.” However, the fuel tax stand campaign has not aligned itself with FairFuelUK, which over the past 18 months has coordinated the lobbying conducted by the Road Haulage Association, Freight Transport Association and RAC, among others.
In response FairFuelUK founder Peter Carroll says: “The more united a campaign is, the more chance of success it has and the stronger the message is to the government. It is slightly disappointing that they’ve launched a separate campaign, but we are grateful that they’ve recognised the good work FairFuelUK has done.”