Rising oil prices bring more worries for UK road haulage
Date: 03 January 2008
The price of oil has hit a record high, prompting further fears for the future of UK road haulage companies and owner operators.
Crude oil has broken through the $100 a barrel mark and the average price of a litre of petrol in the UK is now at 103.3p. The price of diesel has also risen, reaching 107.95p a litre - putting further strain on UK road haulage services.
"Diesel constitutes a third of the operating costs of a lorry and the price of that diesel continues to rise," said the Freight Transport Association's (FTA) director of external affairs, Geoff Dossetter.
"Virtually everything which we use or consume every day is the product of a lorry journey, so the increased price of diesel impacts on every man, woman and child in the UK."
He used the oil price increases to reiterate calls for the government to review the level of duty applied to fuel, which currently accounts for around 50 per cent of the price paid by hauliers and freight operators.
"The government is already taking enormous taxes from fuel, which increase every time the price of oil goes up, creating a windfall income for the Exchequer," Mr Dossetter said. "The time is long overdue when the importance of commercial vehicle operations to the economy is properly recognised and the tax system changed."
It is thought that ongoing instability in Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer, contributed to the increase in prices. Some analysts, however, have put the rise down to speculation in the market rather than problems of supply.
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User Comments
Why dont hauliers use our legal Bio-diesel and reduce fuel costs?
Posted By: Martin Brook on 07/01/2008 15:20:45