FTA: Government must abandon fuel hike plan
Date: 27 February 2008
The Freight Transport Association (FTA) has said the chancellor, Alistair Darling, "must abandon plans for a 2p per litre increase in fuel duty from April 1st".
Going ahead with the increase would result in "severe problems" for haulage operators and all industrial users of transport, the group said in a statement.
Should the price of diesel increase in April, it will be the second rise in six months, and will come at a time of historically high fuel prices. The price of oil now exceeds $100 per barrel.
"Diesel is the lifeblood of UK industry and the sky-high fuel duty level imposed on it already makes UK diesel prices the highest in Europe," said FTA director of external affairs Geoff Dossetter.
"Almost everything that we all consume every day is the product of a lorry journey and around a third of the cost of lorry operation is the diesel that those lorries consume."
He stressed that the government must abandon this plan to tax haulage operators and others further, and should consider decoupling diesel duty paid by heavy goods vehicles and that paid by other road users.
For more of the latest haulage and transport news, please visit the Haulage Exchange Haulage News page - all the latest for owner operators and haulage companies.
User Comments
No Comments