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ECM,The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, the Road Haulage Association (RHA), and the Association of European Vehicle Logistics all lobbied for a relaxation to the rules.
Operators and manufacturers pointed out to the government that they rely on international subcontractors and it wasn't financially viable for UK car transporter specialists to hold sufficient numbers of transporters all year round just to service the two peak periods.
Nick Deal, group secretary of the car transporters group at the RHA, thinks the introduction of two sales peaks, by way of new registration plates in March and September, has compounded the problem that there is not enough car transporter stock in the UK to handle peak volumes.
Deal says businesses have not been sustainable, as the failure of the likes of Sensible Transport, Spirit Motortransport and MCD in recent years has proved.
He adds: "The problem for the transport industry is that very few know the value of their own service; the manufacturers decide the rates and effectively keep cutting and cutting because they think that there will always be someone to do it, but we are running out of companies in the UK to do it."