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Haulage sector has UK's highest failure rate
Page 6
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ROAD TRANSPORT firms are more likely to go under than any other type of UK business, according to a survey by accountants U HY Hacker Young.
'Me survey of firms that went to the wall in 2006 looked at 150.(X)0 business failures. It found that nearly 20% of all road transport firms failed; more than three times the average for all companies. Some 17.3% of hauliers went bust, with rising fuel prices cited as one of the main factors.
Hacker Young partner Peter Kubik warns that things could get worse for hauliers before they get better: "Costs have risen dramatically in a very short period of time for distribution businesses, but the success with which these costs have been passed on to customers has been mixed. At the same time the demand for couriering documents has been wrecked by the internet.
"We could sec a higher failure rate for distribution businesses in the future as congestion charging is introduced in other UK cities and road tax for higher-emission vehicles is ramped up."
The survey was based on data from Companies House for incor porated businesses and from the London Gazette for Unincorporated Companies.
The average failure rate across all businesses was 5.2%. After hauliers (17.3%), hospitality and catering companies fared worst with a failure rate of 15.5%. The firms least likely to fail included those in education (1 °/0), health (1.1%) and recruitment (2.1%).