The price of a litre of petrol at the pumps looks like reaching £1 a litre within weeks, according to newspaper reports. Fuel costs for hauliers will also rise. Indeed petrol is being kept down in price by supermakets, while diesel, even for cars, is now much higher than petrol.
As I wrote in Motor Transport last week that the rising price of fuel is about to become a major issue. and operators will see big increases in costs.
The problem is what to do about it. Gordon Brown should cancel the 2p increase in fuel duty, as the RHA is demaning. But the real question is what can the industry do about both the high fuel tax for truck operators and the increasing underlying cost of fuel?
This is likely to become once again the major issue affecting the industry, particularly given the shortage of fuel because of limits on refinery capacity, and, if reports are correct, a reduction in fuel production.
What do you think we should be doing? Post a response or e-mail me at andrew.brown@rbi.co.uk