High fuel helps us?
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Utterly unbelievable. ..but true. After three months of evidence from a variety of industry sources, the Transport Select Committee's report on competition in the road transport industry not only fails to confit vu that high fuel and vehicle excise duty make UK hauliers uncompetitive—it actually suggests that increases in fuel duty have created a "sustainable market" in road freight transport. It might be funny if it weren't so tragic. Sustainable for foreign hauliers it might be, but for UK-based operators it's the polar opposite. So what went wrong? Criticism will be levelled at the trade associations for their part in the industry's failure to present a convincing enough case. But both the RHA and the FTA have worked hard. Perhaps the real question is whether lobbying of any kind was ever going to be enough. After all, if the Transport Select Committee's ears had truly been open, how could they possibly have failed to get the message?
However it happened, the committee's report is an absolute gift to a government looking to justify the status quo. So what now for the campaign against the highest fuel costs and VED in Europe? And what now for British hauliers in general? Protest might provide a more effective way forward than lobbying. But judging by the lousy turnout at the HFA demo in Dover on Tuesday and the debatable worth of the Dump the Pumps campaign the same day, there is little hope for an industry that can't be bothered to get off its backside to save its life. Harsh words, perhaps. But it's time to give these problems serious thought. Because in the light of this week's events, the future for British hauliers looks very bleak indeed.