Just days after taking the reins as the sole chief executive of the Road Haulage Association, Geoff Dunning has told Commercial Motor that he will make the trade association's "voice heard" when it comes to political lobbying.
With fuel duty campaign group TransAction reviewing the possibilities of protest action ('Fuel duty hike incenses road transport industry', CM 30 April) and the Freight Transport Association continuing its Every Penny Counts 
campaign, Dunning insists that the major political issue the RHA faces is "fuel and fuel duty".
"The political landscape has been transformed over the past 12 months, with the government dealing with financial problems as well as political problems. We have to work at getting our voice heard against this range of background noise," he says.
"We find it very frustrating that the government targets fuel duty on everything. We have to find a way of making sure the truck is treated differently to the car, be that through an essential user rebate, changing VAT rates or a fuel-duty escalator. There are all sorts of options."
Dunning has been joint chief executive of the RHA since 1 May and took sole charge following Roger King's retirement on 21 May. So far this year, the RHA has unveiled plans to consolidate back-office staff at its Peterborough offices, 
resulting in 12 job losses in Weybridge, as well as revealing a £1.6m deficit and a £100,000 drop in membership subscriptions in 2008.
Dunning believes he has already made changes to make the RHA a "more effective organisation" but they will not affect the service levels members expect of the RHA.
"My main priority is to demonstrate to hauliers large and small that their membership has benefits that more than justify the fee."
See Commercial Motor next week (11 June 2009) for the full interview with Dunning.