Not with a bang but a whimper...
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In the beginning hauliers were adamant—they were no longer going to take it lying down. There were threats of blockades and mass demos to force the the Government to think again about its punitive tax regime. But after the damp squib of last month's M25 protest, Karen Miles asks: is the industry finally giving up?
• Judging by official statistics, UK hauliers are in the wrong business. They'd be better off hanging up their keys once and for all and setting up in another business—any other business.
Despite the second lowest employment costs in the EL, the double-whammy of punitive taxes and crippling competition ensures that haulage profit levels are low or non-existent. No wonder a vociferous minority of hauliers have spent the past few months protesting and jamming roads in a desperate attempt to get their message across before it's too late.
But after a handful of demonstrations, interest seems to be on the wane. The first major Park Lane demonstration in March attracted 1,500 trucks—but only a dozen were on hand for the end of last month's 48-hour protest.
At best, those responsible are simply taking a breather. At worst, it could be that the industry does not have the stomach for a showdown with the Government.
Barely improved
The economic environment has not improved, so the explanation for the lull doesn't lie there. Figures released last month by Plimsoll Publishing indicate that 53% of Britain's largest haullors lost money in the first quarter of last year—and that was before Chancellor Gorden Brown stepped up the fuel escalator in his latest Budget.
Arid UK hauliers aren't defying all economic laws and starting to take a bigger share of international business. The latest Department of Transport statistics show foreign trucks are increasing their penetration of our market. The number of foreign-registered vehicles working in the UK increased by 50% over the past two years— that's 240,000 more truck movements a year than in 1996.
The Freight Transport Association is concerned that Continental trucks will soon make "significant inroads" into UK domestic traffic.
There is also the problem posed by Eastern European hauliers. The stagnation of their economies means large numbers of hauliers with modern fleets are desperate to work at almost any price to and from the relatively affluent ELI.
And the number of permits allowing these operators to move traffic internally in the EU is expected to rise in preparation for the admission of some Eastern European states into membership of the union. Within the next few years Poland, Hungary, Slovenia and the Czech Republic are expected to join the club of 15, leaving the internal market open to their hungry—and cheap—hauliers.
As if that wasn't enough, the DOT has just revealed that Willi Betz, the German-based haulage group, has apparently been utilising a brilliant, little used, but totally legal tactic by expanding its traffic through the use of cheap, Eastern European drivers. Betz has been employing
EL drivers to drive his trucks in the ELI countries in which they are registered—but once they cross the first border ELI drivers get out of the cabs and cheaper, East European drivers get in.
Despite working to the letter of Ell employment law, and the Vienna Convention, the Betz Group has been winning business with rates up to 20% below that managed by even the most desperate UK hauliers (CM 27 May-2 June).
But it could be worse. The UK economy is said to he in a state of gentle but steady recovery; large container operators, for example, are holding onto their UK haulage fleets in the firm belief that this toughest of sectors is about to improve.
And not every customer is rejecting years of service from trusted UK hauliers and their drivers and switching wholesale to Continental and Eastern European operators.
Not dispirited Despite the fall in support for direct action, Steven Norris, the director-general of the Road Haulage Association, declares himself "not dispirited" with the FiHA and ETA campaign to persuade the Chancellor to introduce a fairer fuel and vehicle excise duty regime.
"We have hugely raised the profile of the issue and the Government is looking more seriously at it than ever before," he says. "We don't need a demonstration on Park Lane every week to maintain that."
A third meeting of the joint Government and haulage industry forum is expected this month. But to maintain pressure on the Government, large numbers of hauliers will have to contact their MPs to voice their concerns.
Maybe lobbying can succeed where demos have failed.