A driver who received a response from his MP nine months after he wrote asking for help with the rising cost of fuel has branded the reply a "waste of government-headed paper".
The Derbyshire-based owner-driver wrote to Judy Mallaber MP in November 2008 to ask why an essential-user rebate for lorry drivers hadn't been introduced, and why foreign-registered vehicles were using UK roads for free.
Mallaber forwarded his letter to the Treasury, but the driver did not receive a response from Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury and MP Sarah McCarthy-Fry until August.
She said that fuel duty is "significantly lower in real terms than the duty rate in 1999", adding that hauliers are also benefiting from a capital allowance increase and freeze of lorry VED.
But the owner-driver, who wishes to remain anonymous, tells Roadtransport.com: "It's just political flannelling. The cost of living has gone up!"
He adds: "I replied and said thank you for a speedy response, but you have still failed to answer the two questions I originally put to you - why won't you do anything about fuel duty and also charge foreign trucks to use our roads?"