fresh produce, hauliers keep coming back to one subject. Over
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and above the talk of the power of the supermarkets is another, more pressing concern. "Fuel is the killer for us—it is an antrag,eous price at the moment," one of them told us. "The killing factor isn't the rates," one of his competitors adds. "It's the diesel that's crucifying everyone. A lot of people will go to the wall.''
"Give as an essential user rebate, then it will level things up," says Andrew Dunn of Kent Connection, (above). Much of the company's work is in produce brought in from the Continent, and it does have a Calais base. "You fill up where you can," he says.
Another irritant is the road tax, or lack of it, paid by foreign vehicles. For example, Lincolnshire Field Products used to run its own trucks into
Italy and Spain to bring back produce; now it is cheaper to subcontract for eign hauliers. 'You can't ever regret," says commercial director Martin Tate, although he believes this situation demonstrates a missed opportu nity and an unfair disadvantage for UK hauliers. "It is a dynamic industry," he insists. "If we didn't move forward, we'd stagnate. We could bang on about the cost of diesel." But there seems little point when there are other costs., within companies' control, to keep an eye on.