Hauliers avoid fuel cost protests

Hauliers will meet to consider what to do over rising fuel costs

Truckers in Scotland have ruled out protests over rising fuel prices which they claim have been devastating smaller firms.

Members of the Road Haulage Association of Scotland (RHAS) organised a meeting in the wake of fuel breaching the £1-a-litre mark.

RHAS said feelings have been running as high as at the time of the fuel demonstrations in 2000.

They will now campaign for a change in the way fuel duty is calculated.

Protests across the UK in 2000 saw refineries blocked off by fleets of lorries, resulting in nationwide shortages at petrol stations.

The organisation said that many operators have found themselves having to requote for business the next day as prices have risen in recent weeks.

I know it's not the government's fault, but they could help, and they should help Phil Flanders, RHAS director

Phil Flanders, RHAS director, said: "Drivers are at their wits end. Prices have gone up 50% since 2003 and not very many are making an adequate return.

"People out there really are very angry - some are on the breadline.

"I know it's not the government's fault, but they could help, and they should help. But I think they don't care."

The RHAS said it the Edinburgh meeting was for a "representative" sample of its 1,300 members.

Fuel duty

Referring to the tactics adopted in 2000, Mr Flanders said: "People are older and wiser now. "They know that there are certain things they can't do. But we can make the government listen."

Pat Glancey, the RHAS regional manager for Scotland, said the government should delay imposing a planned 2p rise in fuel duty this April.

"We actually need something done before April, because this situation is unbelievable," she said.

Some analysts have predicted the cost of fuel will rise a further 3p per litre by Christmas.