Costs up 16 per cent
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OPERATING costs have risen by 16 per cent since January 1. This figure was revealed in
the Road Haulage Association's "Price Movement Surveythis week. While the survey acknowledges that operators will find difficulty in recouping the increased costs it warns that they cannot be absorbed. Members are advised to arrange rates with their customers which will maintain a viable industry.
The individual increases vary from 8.5 per cent on labour to 0.5 per cent on tyres. The labour increase is more than half the total. It reflects the 20 per cent wage increase which took effect in January. The RHA has already warned that there is nothing "in the kitty"' to meet excessive wage claims this year. Trade union reaction was to adopt a wait and see attitude, "Because we've heard it all before-.
Mr Jackson Moore, general secretary of the United Road Transport Union, said -Mrs Thatcher must write the script for RHA."
The other increases in the survey are. dery 3 per cent; vehicles 1; road tax 0.8; repair and maintenance 0.8; other costs 1.4.