Fuel Page

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The Great British Fuel Rip-off

Adrian Gray, External Affairs Committee member and Chairman of Inverness Centre, was recently in parliament in his role with the Road Haulage Association.

Some new legislation concerning fuel duty was added to the finance bill that will be debated in August. It is estimated that an extra £1.4billion VAT has been collected on increased fuel prices and the government is being urged to put this back into the coffers to reduce the duty charge.

If fuel price goes up the duty could come down on a sliding scale.

We need as many people to lobby their local MP to push this legislation through.

Also the 2p duty rise in October needs to be stopped.

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Phil Flanders, a member of IOTA Edinburgh and Director of the RHA for Scotland and Northern Ireland, was approached by the BBC to comment on the rising fuel prices. A meeting was held by the RHA with various haulage contractors to discuss what action hauliers should take. As part of their feature on reporting Scotland they asked Phil for a business they could approach to put forward the problems their aspect. Phil recommended AJG Parcels in Inverness, whose owner Adrian Gray is Chairman of our Inverness branch.

The program went out three times that day and highlighted the higher prices that are paid in parts of Scotland and the poor roads they have. As far as fuel protests were concerned it was generally felt at the meeting in Edinburgh that no action would be taken at present. It also came to light from the meeting that hauliers can no longer blockade fuel terminals as the Government have changed the law since the last protest.

Phil Flanders also pointed out the fact that every time there is a price increase in fuel the Government get a benefit of another 17.5% VAT. During Adrian’s interview he commented that his vans travelled over five million miles every year using nearly a million litres. Every 1p increase in price or duty costs the business nearly £10,000 a year. They then went on to highlight the problems fuel prices are causing all over the UK not only the affect on businesses but the general public as well

At the request of Inverness branch members, the subject of fuel prices was raised at the recent meeting of the External Affairs Committee meeting in London. IOTA is a Friendly Society and therefore not a lobbying organisation but they would be happy to pass on their members concerns about the rising fuel prices here and in Europe to the media.

Donald MacCuish FInstTA

Senior Vice-President for Scotland

IoTA Response

Who is behind the current increases?

As mentioned above, the basic rise in the price of fuel on this occasion is not in the first instance down to the Government but due to a worldwide increase in the price of crude.

Taxing tax!

The Government have continued with planned increases in the duty rate (a decision which was originally made when the current Prime Minister was resident in number 11) despite the fact (as Phil has rightly pointed out) that they already reap the benefit of the current rises in increased VAT effectively taxing us on a tax. We all know by now that none of these taxes benefit transport or the environment (as the original road fund licence) was intended for

Penalising Business

Although I am sure most of us notice this when fuelling up our own private cars, the biggest nonsense is still the fact that this government insists on taxing diesel more than petrol. The effect on this is to penalise British businesses, which are the vast majority of diesel users.

Is the Green Argument Valid?

The original excuse was that it is a far more polluting fuel than petrol. This is generally no longer the case as many of us know in the industry, the EEC regulations on new diesel engines have made the modern breed of diesel vehicles among the cleanest possible with the target to actually be emitting cleaner air from the exhaust system than the engine is taking in at the other end!

Giving the advantage to the rest of Europe

The other effect on excessive diesel duty is to actually offer the commercial advantage to our European partners, as we are the only country in Europe charging more for diesel than for petrol. In days when business is exiting the UK at an alarming rate, I believe it to be the view of the vast majority of our members that if the government does not show some basic common sense on this matter and reduce the duty on diesel, that they will simply enhance the Exodus and deal a blow to business in this country from which it will find great difficulty recovering.

Mike Walker FInstTA

IoTA Director of External Affairs

Having read various reports and comment of the rising cost of fuel and its effects on the British haulage industry I would like to offer a suggestion as to how hauliers can demonstrate against these rises. Do nothing!

Do not blockade the fuel terminals, do not block distribution hubs, and do not block ports simply do nothing. Park your vehicles up and do nothing. There will be no bad publicity, no aggravation with annoyed members of the public or any ill feelings towards the haulier. However, if there are no trucks on the roads there will soon be no fuel in the petrol stations, no food in the shops, no deliveries of raw materials for production processes or collections of finished goods. It will not take too long for those in the corridors of power to realise that something must be done to ease the difficulties face by the industry. It remains to be seen if every haulier would take such action but if they did I ask you how long would it take for a solution to be found?

Fraser A Robertson FInstTA

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