Don't stop the fight!
Page 8
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Can it be true? Just as the protesters seemed to have given up the fight, a glimmer of hope has now appeared with the news that the Treasury and the DOT may be rethinking the fuel duty escalator thanks to the widespread dissatisfaction expressed with it.
This will justify some serious backslapping in all those quarters of the industry that have fought the fight in different ways—assuming the authorities don't change their minds again before anything concrete takes place. So it will be particularly interesting to see what stance new Transport Minister Helen Liddell adopts at the next industry forum later this month.
But this is no time for apathy. The industry must carry on the fight until it's won, and that won't happen until the authorities are made to understand the true effects of their policies. To this end, Commercial Motor has teamed up with the Road Haulage Association to help it get the hard facts it needs to make the strongest possible case for hauliers when it meets Liddell on 19 July.
Please take a few moments to fill out the CM/ RHA questionnaire on page io and fax it back to the RHA on the number shown. Because if there is any sign that the brick wall may be cracking, a damned good push will help bring it down all the faster.
• Scottish Deputy Traffic Commissioner Richard McFarlane seems to be suggesting that there's nothing more to wheel loss than poor maintenance. But while there are undoubtedly cases where poor maintenance is to blame, there are many more where hauliers have been exonerated of all blame after proving they have scrupulous maintenance procedures.
So where does McFarlane's statement leave the law-abiding haulier who does everything possible but still suffers wheel loss? Gambling everything on the turn of a wheel without ever going near a casino, that's where.