Now you know how it feels to be out of work, It was great to see the back of the Labour London Mayor last friday I could never imagined voting for a conservative candidate, and definatly not one with my dogs name Boris, I wish him all the best lets hope he removes that wicked LEZ charge before I sell my last and final truck

Gordon Brown would be well advised to remove his ear muffs because it will be his turn next if he dosn't listen and sort out the transport Industry and the disgusting charges levied against the back bone of British Industry,

Who pays thousands of pounds in road tax ? other than the British, Do the French, No Sir ! Do the Poles or any other East Europen NO NO NO who's diesel is the most expensive in the 'common' market ? we all know the answer Mr Brown, and please dont make the excuse that it is due to the cost of a Barrell of crude oil, nor OPEC its to do with the unfair tax levied on fuel not just VAT but the greedy percentage levied on a litre of fuel.

We know you hate transport and in particular lorries Its you and your new chancellor, who will no doubt get the blame when you become 'history' by the election in 2010, you had better watch out, the conservatives are on a roll and its your own fault, you and your party are control freaks but thank God we still have the vote. as I pointed out in my last blog I will be wishing you Goodbye.as well.......!

John Hayes owned and ran Redbridge Removals Employing 5 drivers and 10 porters. His vehicles travelled throughout the UK and Europe. After 38 years in the industry Redbridge Removals closed it's doors at the end of january 2008

John English wrote to his MP yesterday:

"I must point out the UK haulage industry is dying on its feet. The obvious reason for this is the fuel price, of course but there are many others.

My trucks are extremely fuel efficient but my costs have risen by approx. £150 per week per truck in the last 5 months. Each penny that goes on the diesel equals around £10 per week per truck and it has been rising by a penny a week for sometime now.

I have always bought new trucks as they have historically been more fuel efficient than the previous models. With the introduction of the Euro 4 and Euro 5 emission regulations this is no longer true. The EGR engines use 20% more diesel and the SCR engines use 10% more (plus Ad-blue). I know because I’ve tried them.

Apologies if I’m getting too technical but I would like to think you (and other MP’s) knew what I
was talking about as it is a real concern that is largely being overlooked. The Belgians and the French have ‘essential user rebates’ that can be backdated many years. What are the chances of this happening in the UK?

Amongst the other issues are the ridiculous training regimes that will soon be thrust upon us. After 25 years in the business, I will be forced to complete 35 hours ‘periodic training’ every 5 years to keep my licence.

This will naturally cause older drivers to quit the industry or take early retirement (and not even be able to do temporary work.). It will also, discourage new start drivers and they will have to undertake the training in September this year before they get their licence.

Incidentally, I am also a commercial helicopter pilot/instructor. The ‘periodic training’ required
for me to maintain my commercial licence will be 7 times LESS than it is to maintain my HGV licence.

Do you think that is right?"

John English

I would certainly urge anyone that reads it to write to their MP also.

John English has been trading for 20 years, mainly international work but more recently in the UK. he runs 4 Scania artic trucks, all unmarked white, His drivers are all British drivers with around 20 years' experience.

When I started thinking about this blog my intention was to absolutely avoid talking about diesel prices. However I'm going to have to start with an apology, because that's the thing that seems to be on my mind at the moment (and quite a lot of other peoples too!)

Coming from an agricultural background, the thing that was drummed into us over the years was controlling the cost of inputs as a major way of achieving the desired profit! However in this case I don't think that's the total answer, there is very little I can do about fuel prices other than shopping around to get the best deal on my fuel cards! And to be honest there has never been a lot the haulier can do about prices! I'm sure that even the Boris Johnson effect won't frighten Gordon Brown into cutting fuel taxes - and if he did he would still need to get the revenue from somewhere else!

I read an interesting post on TruckNet UK today, it was an article from Truck & Driver from 1996, diesel had risen to the dizzy heights of 47ppl, rates weren't going up to match it, a fuel protest had been organised but only 21 lorries turned up , it seemed depressingly similar to the current situation.

So in a week that started with all my fuel cards quoting over a pound a litre, the only way out as far as I can see is to put the rates up. Now I know that my customers will moan and squeal but as I often point out to them, It's the EU's job to subsidise farming not mine and all I'm asking is to be able to make a small profit on the jobs I do – I'm certainly not expecting to be a millionaire this time next year ! I'll leave that to Del Boy and Rodney.

Denis Fuller is a owner-operator based in the South West, running a single truck on livestock and agricultural haulage