News

The trade associations have branded Chancellor Gordon Brown's increase in fuel duty as another government "revenue-raising exercise". Brown raised duty by 1.25p/lit in his pre-Budget Report last Wednesday (6 December), describing it as a "green tax". This ended a three-year freeze on fuel duty. The Freight Transport Association (FTA) says the rise will cost the road haulage industry an additional £170m per year. Road Haulage Association chief executive Roger King dismisses the rise as "another  revenue-raising exercise". He says it will not deter people from driving. He adds: "The competitiveness of the UK haulage industry is suffering again because we're being treated the same as leisure motorists.

"This increase should be neutralised by rebating 1.25p per litre to the industry. This is a step towards many operators going out of business. Although this increase [in itself] should not put anyone out of business, 'green tax' always goes up and we see further increases to come." FTA chief economist Simon Chapman agrees: "The Chancellor is only extracting money from the industry. [The increase] has no connection with demand management and it puts back the idea of road pricing by at least three years.

"In addition, Vehicle Excise Duty is not longer rebated for Euro-4 vehicles as they are now mandatory, which means there are absolutely no savings to be made." The rise is seen as a major snub to the associations, who thought they had made their case for no further cost  increases through the Road Haulage Task Group - which published its report on the same day (see Investigation, page 26).

Operators are reacting angrily to the rise. Gerry Jones, boss of Cwmcarn-based Gerry Jones Transport Services, says: "It's an absolute disgrace. It's just another form of tax and it means the industry is haemorrhaging jobs. "The haulage industry should be entitled to a rebate. We need a proper integrated transport policy which treats the haulage industry separately from normal traffic."