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Despite tough trading conditions and high fuel prices, fewer hauliers went to the wall in the last quarter of last year than in Q4 of 2006. Fewer hauliers went bust in the last quarter of 2007 than in the same period in 2006, according to business information specialist Equifax. There were 5.2% fewer failures among transport and communications companies, despite the fact that most sectors suffered an increase in company collapses. In construction,  for example, failures were up 16.6% in services the rise was 13.8%.

Equifax spokesman Neil Munroe says one reason for road haulage's relatively good performance might be that it has suffered heavily in recent years: "It may be that haulage is an industry that has reached the bottom and does not have much further to fall."

He suggests that because so many hauliers have gone to the wall in the past few years there is more work to go around for those that remain: "It could be that the supply and demand balance has changed a little." But Munroe adds that hauliers working in sectors that have done badly might lose business if they are working for firms that go bust.

Equifax believes cites the credit crunch and non-payment of debts as factors in the increase in business failures. Munroe concludes: "Small businesses are very vulnerable to bad debt. It only takes one customer to go bust to jeopardise the future of a business. "Rigorous credit checks, supported  by ongoing monitoring of changes to the financial status of customers and suppliers, are the best ways to secure the future of their businesses."