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YOU SAID IT: ROAD TRANSPORT'S REACTION
Page 6
Page 7
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Rob Smith, spokesman and former driver for Spalding, Lincs-based JS Cook and Son Transport, says: "I estimate the fuel duty rise will cost us around
LI 80 extra per week — and that is a very big dent for us."
lain Mitchell, managing director at John Mitchell Transport in and they do have to be paid back. Undoubtedly we are in for a very long, tough ride."
Robert Wilcox, (left) managing director at Massey Wilcox Transport, based near Bristol, says: "I don't believe that the industry saw this one coming.
"We were all relieved that fuel had dropped significantly in price [before yesterday], and being able to pass back to our customers some of the fuel surcharge that had so irritated them. So that was short-lived, wasn't it?"
true for motorists, it is not true for hauliers because they can reclaim VAT in full. So this represents a real increase in operational costs and is not what we expected or deserved."
However, a spokesman for the BVRLA says that apart from the fuel duty increase, the preBudget report was all good news for the rental and leasing market. The 13-month reduction in VAT should give the leasing industry a boost and we estimate ii will help our members claw back more than I:53m from the Government by the end of 2009."
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