:hard Mayes (left), spokesman for the Norfolk-based Hauliers and Farmers
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Allianceth Tim Watling, partner in B Watling & Sons—calls on the government to act urgently.. If you want to sound off about a road transport issue write to features editor trio Cunnane or fax your views (up to 600 words) to Why Clarke on 020 8652 8912.
6 Gordon Brown has failed our industry again. His lack
of understanding and concerns quite obvious by his failure in last month's Budget to offer any real concessions. We have been trying to persuade the government
=1-1 that some very serious issues need to be addressed in order to m
;2 prevent further disruption to essential services, such as we began f=' to see during the fuel crisis last September. ,
FL We have a growing number of foreign vehicles entering the UK
.,, Es and carrying out domestic journeys. This means competition will
2 increase as hauliers struggle to offer competitive rates. More UK o
hauliers will be knocked out of business as the financial burdens become too great to bear. Unlike foreign governments, to which we pay tolls on the Continent for using their roads, the Treasury receives no income from foreign operators who make journeys in this country. Why were there no plans for the so-called Brit Disc a method of making foreign operators pay for using our roads—in the Budget?
I'm sick of knocking on the door of the Labour Party. We have the support of hundreds of local hauliers, and had a meeting with Lord Whitty in which land other hauliers explained the crippling weekly running costs of a 38-tonne HGV. We explained about unfair competition from foreign hauliers who make matters worse by not paying any tax to our Chancellor; and, of course, we explained our main concern, about fuel duty. If this matter alone were addressed properly, it would iron out most of the other problems.
Lord Whitby's response was that we should ask our customers for a rates increase. Flow are they going to pay more when UK manufacturing is on its knees as well?
The best way of dealing with high fuel duty to help the industry would be via the essential user rebate system. This could be introduced on the back of the existing VAT system. It seems that the government fears this could be open to abuse.
During the September fuel protest, in which the Hauliers and Farmers Alliance played a part, the government's justification for the UK's high fuel duty was a commitment to invest more taxpayers' money in health, education and welfare. This was obviously a ploy to retain some media support for its rip-off taxation policies. With teachers leaving the profession, long NHS waiting lists and abysmally low pensions for the elderly, such commitments ring a bit hollow. If the Chancellor has our money to spend, it is only right that we should know how it is to be spent.
I just want this government to understand that in rural areas the economies of haulage and farming rely on each other, and fuel duty is hitting harder than anything else. We have nowhere else to run: we've done everything we can. We've all fitted aerodynamics, trained our drivers, asked for rate rises.
We need action. Entry to the industry should be more difficult for UK and foreign operators, and we need to see an immediate reduction in fuel duty-20p off the price of a litre of diesel, tomorrow. You in your privileged positions, made possible by the haulage and farming industries of the country, are unaware of the heartache of the people who have spent much or all of their lives building a countryside with all its magic for you to enjoy and for all to live off.
Come on, William Hague. This is a golden opportunity for you to steal a march on this government. If you have a transport policy which can deal with the business of high fuel duty, foreign competition and all the other industry gripes, let's hear it, and we'll vote according.