It may sound to some like a belated April Fools’ Day joke, but a Treasury MP has taken the unusual (if welcome) step of visiting South Wales haulier Owens Road Services to see for herself the effect of fuel tax rises. Talking of fuel, hydrogen could become an increasingly viable alternative to fossil fuels and now ITM Power and Rousch Technologies are to work together to develop hydrogen-powered engines and refuelling stations.

As well as rising fuel costs, hauliers face the problem of growing lead times, and it has emerged that demand for trucks in Europe is artificially high because of operators placing identical orders with two or more manufacturers to hedge their bets with delivery times.

With all the obstacles that stand in their way, it is no surprise that many operators are opting to spread risk by moving into new areas of business – and JDR Distribution is one of them. Today it reports that its 24-hour delivery service moved4U is proving a success 10 months after launch.

Over in the blogs today, BigLorryBlog revisits a 1972 Commercial Motor road test of the Renault 4 van – in which the tester rather worryingly highlighted the van's “inconsistent response to brake-pedal effort”…