A timber haulier has warned chancellor Gordon Brown that there is “no justification” for raising fuel duty in the March 16 budget.
Bryan Harper, of Scotland-based Harper Transport Ltd, said it would be “ridiculous” of Mr Brown to raise duty as oil prices are still highly volatile.
Mr Harper, chairman of the Forestry Contracting Association‘s roundwood haulage specialist group, said: “The most important thing is to continue to freeze fuel duty. The sector is coming under severe strain with the working time directive and because of increasing fuel costs.”
He said fuel costs at Harper Transport were now close to 40% of the costs of running a lorry, with diesel currently at 72.5p (plus VAT) a litre.
An industry team from the Freight Transport Association (FTA) recently met economic secretary John Healey to reinforce the core themes of the FTA’s pre-Budget submission.
The FTA wants to see a fuel duty freeze and clarification about who will pay for on-board units required for lorry road user charging. It is also calling for a stable long-term cost environment for rail operators, plus capital allowances as an incentive for switching to ultra-clean Euro 5 trucks.
