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Truckers to join national protest

11:04am Tuesday 17th June 2008

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HUNDREDS of lorry drivers in York, Selby and North Yorkshire are planning to abandon their wagons and march on Downing Street by foot in protest over crippling fuel prices which are driving them out of business.

Today the Road Haulage Association revealed that in the past three weeks six businesses had failed in the North Yorkshire region and in the coming weeks "considerable numbers" of people employed in the haulage industry across the county will lose their jobs.

Today, Margaret Edmunds, Yorkshire area manager for the Road Haulage Association, said dozens more redundancies are on the way.

She said: "Frankly this is the most worrying situation we have ever seen. It is simply frightening. I've seen in the past couple of weeks six members go out of business and we are now entering a period of ongoing redundancy because more and more people will be losing their jobs.

"This industry needs help and it needs it now, it is worrying, upsetting and now we feel we need to take action.

"Not only is the rising cost of fuel hammering our members, but now the housing market is hitting them too.

"Builders are mothballing housing projects across York and North Yorkshire and this means they don't need hauliers to transport their materials so we are being doubly hit."

The Press recently revealed how the economic downturn had led to the second phase of York's Hungate development being put on hold, with the construction of 154 apartments and seven commercial units being suspended until 2009. Builder Persimmon has also mothballed the building of 160 apartments at the Barbican site in the city centre.

Now the Road Haulage Association is planning a mass rally in London.

The demonstration will see around 300 members from York and North Yorkshire join thousands more in marching on 10 Downing Street to press Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Commuters are currently paying up to £1.36 a litre (£6.18 a gallon) for diesel and in York at least one Shell garage, in Hull Road, has run out of unleaded and diesel fuel as tanker drivers strike over pay.

Details of the London protest are still being finalised, but it is due to coincide with a planned House of Commons debate on the price of fuel in July.

One business that will be joining the protest is Millfield Haulage, based in Nether Poppleton.

Managing director Edward Beat, who employs around 35 workers, said: "I'll be there and I back this action to the hilt.

"We have to put pressure on the Government to help because the situation is becoming a nightmare. No one likes to think about it, but we are all having to consider reducing numbers because it's getting to the point that being in business is no longer worth it."


Petrol station fuel hope

A FILLING station in York said it was confident it would receive a delivery of ordinary petrol and diesel today, after it ran out on Saturday amid the fuel tanker drivers' strike.

A spokeswoman for the Shell garage, in Hull Road, said yesterday that the filling station still had a limited availability of V-Power petrol and V-Power diesel fuel in stock.

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york1900, York says...
11:50am Tue 17 Jun 08

If the goverment reduce the tax on fuel

What is stopping others from incressing there share of the fuel price nothing as it is supply and demand


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Lt.Dobie, Planet Eighties says...
12:02pm Tue 17 Jun 08

I remember reading the 'Usbourne book of Science' in the early 80s when I was about 8, and it told me that when demand for fuel (i.e. oil) escalates due to massively increasing demand, the price will go up too.

That was >25yrs ago; why haven't we (we being this planet's occupants) been more economical with our limited resources and why are we surprised it is happenning?

More worrying is why nobody has developed a realistic alternative to oil.

Do I like high fuel prices? No.

Who do I blame? Everybody who has been a top-level decision maker anywhere since the 80s for ignoring what was bound to happen, and failing to put something in place to allow our reserves to last longer.

How do we solve it?
Bl@@dy good question!!

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lrd, york says...
12:16pm Tue 17 Jun 08

UK hauliers are going to the wall cos of the cost of fuel,, some see this as a good thing so that we get these nasty trucks off the road,, yes there may be other altenatives to moving stuff sround the UK, canals, trains ect but until something serious is done about this then it will not happen, instead the UK haulier will be replaced from the continent, Ok you cannot tar all foreign drivers with the same brush but a majority are in unroadworthy vehicles, don,t take the specified breaks/often over the limit/don,t abide by uk law and when something goes wrong they dissapear. so it ends up that the haulage industry goes back in time. The UK haulage industry needs support from the british public. I took part in the fuel blockades a few years back the worst thing we did was give in too easy, if we had held out longer then possibly things may have been better for hauliers as well as the car driver.

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Vlad The Impaler, Transylvania says...
12:32pm Tue 17 Jun 08

lrd's suggestion of transporting goods via canals makes sense but why stop at canals? If the Ouse was once again used to transport freight then it would once again get dredged regularly (like it used to) & this would help stop the floods we have every year. This would have the knock on effect of reduced insurance premiums, no lorries in the city centre & probably more jobs for local people.

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Guy Fawkes, Bootham says...
12:36pm Tue 17 Jun 08

One problem is that foreign hauliers bring fuel with them into the UK, on which they've paid much lower duty. From later this year new EU rules will also allow them to undertake domestic deliveries within the UK, too (rather than just delivering goods from overseas or collecting them for export).

The solution to this is very simple. Require all foreign-registered HGVs to fill their tanks up at the port of embarkation immediately before driving onto the boat. Their tanks are filled up at an attendant-service petrol station and when they've paid for the diesel, they're given a certificate, without which the vehicle is not allowed to leave the country.

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misskittie, York says...
1:00pm Tue 17 Jun 08

Go on truckers, farmers and all other essential users!! To anyone in politics or just someone with more of a clue than me, can you answer the below? Ta!

Question: Why is Britain the only global oil producing nation to not supply subsidised energy to it's people, instead choosing to tax them for fuel at around 80%?

Question: Why does every other oil producing country have an "oil trust" which is used to mitigate big financial problems such as a hike in oil prices(recently Norway enjoyed a 5% cut in income tax as their oil fund had built up enough interest to allow the people a choice of a 20% increase in welfare spending or 5% cut in tax rates)?

Question: Why do the British put up with anything from their Government when in other European nations, if the Government "tried it on" like ours does, they would find the country ground to a halt within seconds?

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Dave Taylor, Fishergate, York says...
1:07pm Tue 17 Jun 08

Driving around in a big bunch of trucks must make them feel really hard. However, you have to question the sanity of anyone burning up a lot of fuel to protest at the price of the fuel they are burning...

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Dave Taylor, Fishergate, York says...
1:11pm Tue 17 Jun 08

Transporting goods by rail instead of by road would mean less damage to the roads and mean less congestion.

Better still, buy more stuff locally and support local farmers and producers that way. Saves on the cost of transportation and wastes less energy.

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Stephen, York says...
3:36pm Tue 17 Jun 08

misskittie.

Fact: Norway is not a member of the EU.

Fact: Norway does not pay VAT.

Fact: VAT is imposed on the UK by Brussels this is used to pay for the running of the EU parliament which we have no say over.

Fact: FUEL VAT is 15% imposed by the EU Government any additional VAT is added if the UK Government think they can get away with it.

All our VETO's have been given away under Tony Blair and they are reduced even more by the LISBON TREATY.

See Below for treaty between EU countries and Norway.

As one of very few western European countries, Norway is not a member of the European Union. Norway has held referendum on the issue of EU membership twice, first in 1972 and then again in 1994. On both occasions, a rather narrow majority of the Norwegian population rejected membership (in 1994, 52% were against and 48% were in favour).

As a consequence, Norway is not a Member State of the EU, and the relationship with the Union is therefore based on other forms and means of close contact and co-operation. This co-operation enables Norway to maintain a very high level of economic integration, and political co-operation, with the EU and its Member States.

The EEA-Agreement is by far the single most important agreement regulating the relationship between Norway (and the two other EEA EFTA States Iceland and Liechtenstein) and the European Union. The purpose of the agreement is to enlarge the EUs internal market to also comprise the EEA EFTA States, and it does so by creating a common ”European Economic Area”.

Through the EEA-Agreement Norway and the other EEA EFTA States have taken on the obligation to implement all EU legislation relevant to the functioning of the internal market. The EEA Committee takes the decision on whether new Community legislation is of EEA-relevance, with joint participation by the EU Commission and the EEA EFTA Member States. Thereafter, it is up to the national parliaments and legislators to ensure the national implementation.

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ME, Malton says...
12:10am Wed 18 Jun 08

Re;- Dave Taylors. Why is the government fleeceing us with fuel duty and getting away with it. Simply because of wingeing people like Taylor, who haven't the guts to stand up and be counted, criticise the ones out there that have, in this case the hauliers and drivers. I have no doubt that he and others like him would be at the front of the queue to reap any benifits that may come out of it. He is probably getting his money too easy.

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michaeljohnrogan, germany says...
5:41pm Mon 23 Jun 08

No matter what we buy in this day ,and age the majority has to be transported at some point by road,i'm also in favour of supporting local producers,but it still has to be delivered and transported,by road,i personaly support wholeheartedly the road haulage firms,and yes'their proffessional drivers are indeed hard ,they have to be to drive under the pressures they are now under,and many firms are going under resulting in job insecureties,which does not instill confidence in their industry,think ,Mr Taylor,if you can? support the haulage firms,bring the nation to a standstill,show the government (as the.French public often do)that the tax on fuel must be reduced at once to the benefit of all,a few years ago the,Belgium drivers blocked all roads,and autobahns,the public backed them to the hilt,and kept them supplied with hot drinks,soups,hot meals,sandwiches,cak
es blankets,many of us who had motorcycles drove down the lines of trucks delivering,and doing any shopping they required,why not do the same,and stop moaning about your own selfish needs,action speaks louder than words,the country could be brought to a standstill with a bit of determination,and backbone.

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Comments are closed on this article.

Managing director Edward Beat, left, and transport manager Marc Thompson, of Millfield Haulage. Mr Beat says the firm will join a protest over fuel prices Managing director Edward Beat, left, and transport manager Marc Thompson, of Millfield Haulage. Mr Beat says the firm will join a protest over fuel prices

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