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Members of the Transaction group who were at the centre of the 2000 fuel protests are planning another demonstration before the proposed fuel duty hike next month. The reformed and renamed Transaction 2007 has "come out of retirement" and is "put-ting together a legal protest, says original member Mike Presneill.

He warns: "If we've got to go back on the roads to do this then that's what we will do!" Presneill, who runs Presneill Tipper Contractors in Sheerness, Kent, claims the support  of around 150 operators, including some of the industry's big players. "It is hotting up and large companies are feeling the pinch as much [as smaller businesses]," he says.

The group is aiming to encourage the government to give operators a tax break. Transaction 2007 asks the Treasury: "Why are you crippling us? Why are you taxing us to death?" says Presneill. The proposed duty rise of 2p/litre, which is due to come into force in October, is the first of three fuel duty increases proposed by the government. A further 2p/litre rise is set to hit in April 2008, followed by a 1.8p/litre hike in April 2009.

Presneill has also hit out at the "apathetic" attitude of Road Haulage Association (RHA) members. He says: "Transaction is extremely frustrated at the lack of support [for a protest] by the RHA membership." He says that unless members call for a protest its leadership will do nothing. RHA policy director Jack Semple says: "We don't get any strong sentiment from our membership  that they want to demonstrate."

But he adds: "This should not be confused with a lack of negative sentiment for the restarting of the fuel duty escalator for the road haulage industry. "I think the industry is almost unanimous in its strong opposition to the Chancellor restarting the fuel duty escalator. It is damaging to the industry and to UK competitiveness."

Semple says the RHA is looking in the short term for there to be no further fuel duty increase in road haulage, adding that the RHA and Freight Transport Association met with the Treasury last week.