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Don't rule out dired adion

4th November 2004
Page 8
Page 8, 4th November 2004 — Don't rule out dired adion
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Brynle Williams is calling for an essential user rebate. Jennifer Ball reports.

BRYNLE WILLIAMS, former fuel protest leader and now a Welsh Assembly Member. has called on the government to grant hauliers and farmers an essential user rebate on fuel duty.

He has written to Chancellor Gordon Brown urging him to help operators who cannot pass the cost on to their customers.

And Williams warns that if the Chancellor of the Exchequer does not offer any help he will not rule out direct action, stressing that every operator has the right to peaceful protest. He has told Brown:" I do not want to see a return to the fuel protests of four years ago. Resolution of this matter is solely in your hands."

Williams is confident that the Chancellor will not impose this month's delayed 1.9p/lit increase in fuel duty: "It would be political suicide to go ahead with this."

Wading into the fuel debate

Rival transport organisation British Hauliers has also waded into the debate, saying it has been inundated with calls from hauliers promising support. John Bridge, British Hauliers' chairman, warns that protest action is inevitable: "It is fully understandable why hauliers feel they are left with no alternative but to take direct action on a legal basis as they believe this is the only way they have received concessions in the past."

He accuses the major trade associations, the RHA and FTA, of failing the industry on this issue. British Hauliers says it has about 100 members. Operators will have to carryon paying high diesel prices despite the massive prof is being enjoyed by oil companies, according to fuel analysts.

In the past couple of weeks BP has announced record third-quarter profits of £2.14bn on the back of soaring oil prices while Shell unveiled a 70% rise in its third-quarter net profits to £2.4bn.

The fuel companies claim they cannot reduce prices as the majority of their profits come from the extraction of crude oil rather than fuel retailing. Ray Holloway from the Petrol Retailers Association adds: The best hope for road hauliers to push for cheaper diesel would be through the Lorry Road User Charge."


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