News

The Road Haulage Association (RHA) stands by its ballot to gauge members' views on direct action against fuel duty hikes after concluding there was not enough support for a programme of protests. But it does not rule out a change in attitude should the government enforce its prop-osed 2p/litre rise next April.

"One does not want to run away with the idea that attitudes will stay the same," says chief executive Roger King. "The industry's like a coiled spring with frustration at the moment  - bitter and angry." Results from the RHA's email and fax poll of 8,000 members - 85% of the membership - over the past fortnight were considered at its board meeting last week, and the conclusion that there "was no universal mood" for protests was no surprise.

"There's no magic ingredient to say that if the RHA had delivered [the poll] another way we'd have got a different result," King insists. He says regional briefings offered no indication that members want to engage in nationwide protests. The remaining 15% of members were not polled due to lack of email and fax details.

"It would have cost around £3,000 to £4,000 [to post] and we're not going to engage in that for this. We were looking for random guidance," King says. Just 4% to 5% of those polled responded. The majority of those were in favour of direct action, but most were not willing to put forward trucks themselves, he adds. The RHA will launch a campaign to halt the next rise. It also promises to support  haulier groups who want to engage in local legal protests.

Transaction 2007 founder Mike Presneill says the pressure group welcomes this pledge, but adds that it wants clarification on what level of support there is. He disputes the RHA's conclusion that there is little support for direct action, "based on conversations with RHA members".  He says a meeting of haulage and farming representatives is due to take place in the North-east this week, "to discuss protest action".