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Ilessings and curses
Page 66
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Ray Dickson reflects on a mixed week for transport, but asks who
will take the next steps needed to ensure the industry's survival.
111 uly has been a month of extremely mixed blessings so far.The first good news was the announcement on 5 July in the Commons that Alistair Darling and his chums had shelved plans for the Lorry Road User Charge. Hallelujah! Presumably the government has at last realised that the thing was so damned complicated that even they have seen the stupidity of the scheme.
As I suggested a couple of months ago, if the aim is to create a level playing field, charging foreign hauliers on a weekly, monthly or annual basis, with a road tax at the point of entry to the UK, would be reasonably simple to implement.
The second piece of good news came the following day with the decision to award the 2012 Olympic Games to London.This can only be good news for our industry as it will inevitably lead to increased transport demands over the next seven years as London gets its 'makeover'.This was of course marred the following day by the wanton death and destruction on London's transport system.
As a London operator, our shock and anger was mitigated only by pride in our emergency services, which once again proved to be the best in the world, and without which the number of fatalities would have been far greater.
Vulnerable profits
So what next for the transport industry? More and more of us continue to operate at rates that are so marginal that the profit and loss line can be crossed by a simple parking fine, tyre blow-out or a lp rise in diesel prices.
The Chancellor has once again shelved the planned autumn duty hike, but continued escalation in the price of crude oil will ultimately cause more casualties in our industry unless action is taken.We all need rate increases, but in our industry we are all reluctant to take the first step. •