ii Everyone I know within the haulage industry, from the
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smallest to the largest players, has been telling me for a long time of the devastating effect on their business of the high cost of diesel within the UK.
As a haulier, the future looked bleak to me as it did to so many others I have known well for years. I have seen the terrible personal anguish and difficulties experienced trying to compete and survive in impossible circumstances.
These experiences clearly developed the passion within me to fight for what I believed to be right and fair and led to my three priorities being "Fuel, Fuel and Fuel' upon my election as national chairman of the Road Haulage Association in May 1998. Since that time I have worked and lobbied ceaselessly with many others in many different ways to highlight the untenable and unfair competition with regard to fuel duty across Europe and to persuade the government to change its fuel duty poky.
Due to the government's inability to even acknowledge the problems of the haulage industry, let alone deal with them, it is little wonder there was a spontaneous eruption of nationwide protests in September that captured the imagination of the country.
We must not underestimate in any way the impact of these fully legal demonstrations and congratulate everyone involved for the responsible way they conducted themselves. However, what we must also understand is that they have now served their purpose and we need to plan ahead in a different way.
The significance of the Chancellor's pre-Budget Statement is not fully appreciated and clearly did not give us all we would have wished. However, there is a change in the thinking process of ministers, including the Chancellor, which is to be welcomed. We can all calculate the positive financial impact on our own businesses of the various measures introduced. While we may think they are not enough, they are nevertheless a start.
The reduction in fuel duty on ultra-low-sulphur diesel from the day of the next Budget is a very significant step and indicates that at last there is an understanding of the real cause of the industry's problems, even though the initial step is only a small one.
We clearly still have much to do in persuading the government to properly address the key issue of excessively high fuel duty and this we must now pursue in new and innovative ways.
The real difference is that we can now have hope and optimism that at last the government will listen to, and work with, the industry
to provide the level playing field we have so long been seeking. In this respect I intend to continue to play a part.
We must all think positively about how we can use the measures announced in the Budget to our best advantage to ensure our survival.
Above all do not underestimate in any way the significance of what has been achieved by the efforts
of so many!