UK NEWS

FUEL DUTY CONVOY TO JAM THE CAPITAL

Haulier fuel protest heads for London

Monday May 26,2008

Comment Speech Bubble Have your say(4)

Lorry drivers are to pour into London for what organisers hope will be the largest-ever fuel duty protest in the capital.

Hauliers are angry at soaring fuel prices which have resulted in the average cost of diesel passing far beyond the 120p-a-litre mark.

Led by lorry drivers from Kent, the protest is expected to attract hundreds of hauliers from all around the UK.

The convoy will make its way to central London, parking close to Marble Arch.

Transport for London said the A40 will be closed between White City and Edgware Road, west London, from 10am until 3pm so that demonstrators can park their lorries.

The westbound carriageway of the A40, going out of London, will remain open.

A delegation from the demonstrators will hand a letter to 10 Downing Street demanding the immediate introduction of an essential user rebate which would allow HGV operators to claim some of the fuel duty back.

Mike Presneill, a leading member of Transaction 2007, who is helping to organise the protest, said: "Fuel is rocketing. The Government has the power to act but appears not to be listening. Hundreds of UK transport firms are being driven to the wall. Thousands of UK jobs are being lost.

"Foreign hauliers are entering the UK with cheaper fuel purchased abroad. They contribute nothing to our economy."

Kent-based haulier Peter Knight said: "This is the economics of the mad house. If we are wiped out, the work will be done by foreign hauliers who pay nothing to the UK in tax."

DISCRIMINATION

26.05.08, 1:25pm

In New Labour's paradise of "equal opportunities", surely it is only right and proper that the British should be able to compete on eaqual terms with foreigners.

Surely the, even New Labour must see that it is unfair treatment for foreign hauliers to be allowed to drive (and compete with the British) on British roads with a tank full of cheap foreign fuel purchased in a foreign economy from (say) Calais.

Not only do British drivers lose out, but British petrol stations and the British taxpayer loses out as well.

It is time to put that unfairness right.

Also, I agree with a previous poster, foreign drivers should pay their way on our roads. Why not issue a temporary tax disk or driving permit (like some other countries) valid for 3 months which should cost no more and no less than a domestic tax disk?

Vote Labour for equal opportunities? Nah!

Oh, good luck to the fuel protests.

• Posted by: Peter_Pan • Report Comment

WHERES THE LEVEL PLAYING FIELD?

26.05.08, 1:18pm

I am not connected with the haulage industry but I greatly sympathise with those truckers who face losing their businesses. The day of fuel duty protest could well escalate into a more widespread day of protest as many ordinary folk share the sense of desperation and exasperation felt by the truckers.
The suggestion that foreign drivers should obtain permits is a sound one. The trouble is that whereas on the Continent the police do enforce the law the same cannot be said of the UK. Here the police are completely out of their depth in tackling the problems presented by foreign drivers - eg unroadworthy vehicles, lack of proper insurance, no proper driving licence. Who can blame our own truckers for saying "enough is enough"?

• Posted by: panadero • Report Comment

GET A MOVE ON THEN GUYS BRING THE COUNTRY TO A STANDSTILL!

26.05.08, 12:54pm

Each and everyone of us need to take a stance against this unscrupilous prime minister and government who only hold centempt for the British person.

I wait for that day to come when we bott them all out?

Get campaigning everyone.........

• Posted by: RealIstic08 • Report Comment

TAX FOREIGN DRIVERS

26.05.08, 10:41am

A couple of years ago whilst driving in Austria, I travelled on a motorway, but forgot to buy a permit.
I was fined £35 for a genuine mistake.

I wrote to the Austrian Embassy, to plead my case, outlining the fact that foreigners do not pay to drive on British roads.

It fell on deaf ears.

So I suggest to our ever taxing Government, tax foreign drivers.

It is easy to fit vending machines on ferries.

The appropriate money is paid, for the vehicle type and length of stay in Britain, and a permit to stick on the vehicle screen is issued.

Simple, and if the drivers of foreign vehicles do not purchase a permit on the ferry, fine them when they drive off.

I am surprised the Government haven't thought of it.

Regards