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Truckers join fuel protest in capital
7:13pm Wednesday 2nd July 2008
Comments (32)WILTSHIRE lorry drivers joined a fuel protest in the capital.
Drivers from Devizes joined a mass demonstration in London yesterday as part of their effort to get the Government to cut the price of fuel.
Lining their vehicles along a specially closed section of the A40 Westway in west London, the hauliers spoke of their fears for the industry as long as fuel costs remained at record highs.
And one of the first to arrive in the capital was Robin Edmunds, 58, from Devizes.
A haulier for 30 years, Mr Edmunds, who has a fleet of seven lorries, said: "I have never seen times as bad as this.
"The Government has got to cut the fuel duty.
"All this is down to Gordon Brown, and he is pulling Alistair Darling's strings."
Travelling from his Wiltshire base with Mr Edmunds was his son, Michael, 30, who also runs his own business.
He said: "I'm not very optimistic of any change but if we keep knocking on the door, the Government will hopefully listen.
"A lot of people can't afford to take the time off work to come up for this protest.
"Business life for us at the moment is hard - very hard.
"It's got to the stage where I'm wondering whether it's all worth carrying on.
"I'm only a small haulier. We are simply getting swallowed up."
Another early arrival was Paul Prout, 34, who operates five lorries based in Melksham.
He said: "It's all very sad. I've just learned that one of my drivers has had a baby, but I can't afford to run the business just to keep him in a job.
"I have a wife and four children of my own. If I can't make any money running my own lorries, I will have to pack up and go and work for someone else."
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Swindon Local, Swindon, Wiltshire says...
9:10pm Wed 2 Jul 08
Donkey, Swindon says...
10:40pm Wed 2 Jul 08
Most HGV drivers seem to have 'foot to the floor' and drive to the limit of their vehicles governed speed at all times on the motorway!
The speedy motorist, I have no sympathy with, especially those who still spit out fuel down the exhaust pipe from over acceleration ... if it's so expensive, save some of the precious commodity!
The figures for defensive driving, as opposed to driving over the limit as certain correspondents on here seem to prefer, shows a massive saving in MPG!
Slow down to save fuel duty if you're that bothered by paying the extra road duty.
Blackmalkin, Wanborough says...
6:52am Thu 3 Jul 08
Apparently the haulage industry in the UK is overcapacity and due for a shakeout - even more with a recession looming. It's tough, but my firm has lost 2,000 jobs (10% of the workforce) in the last year and no-one is immune from change.
amlorusso, Swindon says...
6:55am Thu 3 Jul 08
Has the government announced they are going to charge extra money on VED paid already? No they haven't so it's not retrospective.
Governments have increased VED on vehicles people already own all the time, otherwise everyone woulds be paying the same VED on a vehicle now as when they first bought it. To call this change retrospective means you have to call every tax rise ever implemented retrospective.
Robert Feal-Martinez, Swindon says...
7:11am Thu 3 Jul 08
KJ, says...
8:20am Thu 3 Jul 08
Frontier(s), says...
9:52am Thu 3 Jul 08
"retrospective Car Tax on second hand cars registered after 2001."
Has the government announced they are going to charge extra money on VED paid already? No they haven't so it's not retrospective.
Yes, it IS a retrospective tax because those who bought their cars in 2001 up until last year had NO IDEA that this massive tax increase would be applied to their cars in 2008.
It IS a retrospective tax - that is simply a matter of fact.
I'd also like to correct Donkey on one of his points.
Most people are not complaining about the price of petrol. In fact, I believe the oil companies sell it far too cheaply (it costs us only about 38p per litre in the UK).
My complaint is with the 85p tax/duty that is then added by the government.
Yes, tax has always been a major part of petrol cost but as the price of oil soars, so does the tax grab through the VAT element. That VAT element is applied to the tax element by the way, which means we pay additional tax on ever increasing tax.
I also don't understand this blinkered view that tax has to continue going through the roof and all these billions of wasted pounds 'have to be taken from somewhere'.
Here's a thought: let's stop funding illegal wars, let's stop giving £60 Billion to greedy Northern banks that can't run a business properly, let's stop dishing out money to 2 million people who pretend they can't work when they can, let's stop wasting money on a government that will take every last penny we could ever give and STILL end up the most in debt any government has ever been in the history of this country!
Donkey, Swindon says...
10:00am Thu 3 Jul 08
Are your fingers sore from the keyboard, you have to be the most prolific writer on here, almost full-time I guess, I congratulate you ... seriously!
LordBelacqua, Swindon says...
10:05am Thu 3 Jul 08
Most HGV drivers seem to have 'foot to the floor' and drive to the limit of their vehicles governed speed at all times on the motorway!
Umm, no, they really don't.
Most drivers are more efficient than car drivers - the odometer shows the most efficient RPM to drive at (green, yellow and red bars around the outside of the odometer), and most do actually follow those recommendations. Lorries are always going to get poor MPGs due to the fact that they're lorries - cars aren't known to carry 40 tonnes of goods!
As for driving at the limit on the motorway - would you not say it was safer to travel at a speed similar to the traffic?
Frontier(s), says...
10:14am Thu 3 Jul 08
Donkey wrote:
Ever heard of inflation
Yes, of course Donkey, it's currently running at 3% - according to your government.
So, tell me, when VAT of 17.5% is added to every single penny increase in the price of petrol, where's that additional 14.5% going?
Come on Donkey, you're not that daft as to believe NuBroon's massive tax grab is to cover 'inflation', are you?!?
Frontier(s), says...
10:22am Thu 3 Jul 08
you certainly hold a lot of gas on most subjects you turn around to be anti-Labour Government propoganda?
The removal of the 10p tax rate, the doubling of car tax for those who are least well off and can only afford older, second-hand cars, the rising cost of taxation on petrol pricing the least well off from the roads...
And on and on. It's interesting that I'm the one pointing out this misery that Labour is inflicting on the least well off in society when Donkey, the socialist superhero, is the one defending what his government is doing!
Still, that's what happens when you cling to defending something you don't actually understand, you just support and vote for it 'because you always have'.
Open your eyes Donkey, genuinely look at what your government is doing to those you claim you care most about.
Peeved, Swindon says...
10:51am Thu 3 Jul 08
Pick two of the largest forecourt chains and boycott them for a couple of weeks.
When either BP,Shell,Esso,Total etc realise they are being hit in their billion pound profits they will reduce the cost of fuel... sparking a price war in which we all benefit.
Failing that we could appeal to the sense of decency of Robber Broon and pals to lower the duty.
(Sorry about the second bit... the lid must have come off my Tippex!)
Frontier(s), says...
11:00am Thu 3 Jul 08
Petrol is NOT expensive, the TAX on petrol is disgracefully expensive.
emmylou83, Stratton says...
11:09am Thu 3 Jul 08
Frontier(s), says...
11:09am Thu 3 Jul 08
emmylou83 wrote:Very true, unfortunately, emmylou.
Oh come on guys nothing is ever going to change until we are in even more trouble than we are already.
So much for Mr Brown 'listening' eh?
Peeved, Swindon says...
11:10am Thu 3 Jul 08
angry monkey, Swindon says...
11:11am Thu 3 Jul 08
LordBelacqua wrote:100% agree. Donkey has no idea. Many newer trucks have telematic fleet management software installed. Bosses can see if a driver is driving badly or in a fuel ineffecient manner for the price of a phone call to the vehicle.
Most HGV drivers seem to have 'foot to the floor' and drive to the limit of their vehicles governed speed at all times on the motorway!Umm, no, they really don't. Most drivers are more efficient than car drivers - the odometer shows the most efficient RPM to drive at (green, yellow and red bars around the outside of the odometer), and most do actually follow those recommendations. Lorries are always going to get poor MPGs due to the fact that they're lorries - cars aren't known to carry 40 tonnes of goods! As for driving at the limit on the motorway - would you not say it was safer to travel at a speed similar to the traffic?
Fuel prices are outragous currently, and are fueling (!) inflation of virtually all goods.
Labour's answer? Double car tax on fairly ordinary cars next year, meaning ordinary people are left with an asset worth much less than it would have been
emmylou83, Stratton says...
11:18am Thu 3 Jul 08
Frontier(s) wrote:Unless we got he way spain did (although that didn't help them either) I think its a case of put up and shut up
emmylou83 wrote: Oh come on guys nothing is ever going to change until we are in even more trouble than we are already.Very true, unfortunately, emmylou. So much for Mr Brown 'listening' eh?
angry monkey, Swindon says...
11:22am Thu 3 Jul 08
Frontier(s), says...
11:26am Thu 3 Jul 08
Peeved wrote:Oil companies don't make any money from the shops attached to petrol stations.
Semi true... but I think it's safe to assume that Broon is not going to act so the petrol companies should. It's no longer just fuel that they sell. Refuse to buy anything from their over priced "mini-marts" as well and then see the profits tumble!
Oil companies charge for petrol (c.38p per litre)
The petrol station owners make about 2p per litre - plus money on whatever else their shop sells.
Gordon Brown takes around 85p per litre in petrol tax and then VAT applied to all of it.
Refusing to shop at petrol stations only hurts the owners, not the oil companies and certainly not Gordon Brown.
angry monkey, Swindon says...
11:27am Thu 3 Jul 08
It beggars belief thet we have reached the end of a 10 year + period of economic prosperity, where the goverment has significantly raised taxes, and STILL the nations balance sheet is many times worse than at the start of that period.
Now things start going wrong and the government has no lee-way to lower taxes in order to stimulate the economy, or help out people badly hit be rising prices of all goods.
Where has all OUR money gone?
Frontier(s), says...
11:47am Thu 3 Jul 08
emmylou83 wrote:Really?
Frontier(s) wrote:Unless we got he way spain did (although that didn't help them either) I think its a case of put up and shut upemmylou83 wrote: Oh come on guys nothing is ever going to change until we are in even more trouble than we are already.Very true, unfortunately, emmylou. So much for Mr Brown 'listening' eh?
So, why did you get so upset about the tributes being removed from graves on another story then?
That's the way it is, would you tell those families to 'put up and shut up' about it?
Somehow, I doubt it.
Surely when something is so obviously WRONG you should definitely not put up or shut up about it?
If we all did just accept it and kept quiet you can guarantee Brown & Co. would be the first people to say, 'Look, nobody's moaning about it, they're all really happy with it'
emmylou83, Stratton says...
12:01pm Thu 3 Jul 08
Frontier(s), says...
12:04pm Thu 3 Jul 08
There is nothing this government would like more than for people not to discuss things and for the truth to be told.
If nobody 'rants' about this kind of thing, people tend to assume that everyone just accepts things.
And, remember, a lot of people made the same mistake THREE times in voting for a Labour government - there's clearly still plenty of education that needs doing!
emmylou83, Stratton says...
12:06pm Thu 3 Jul 08
yeti, swindon says...
12:08pm Thu 3 Jul 08
LordBelacqua wrote:agree with the above.
Most HGV drivers seem to have 'foot to the floor' and drive to the limit of their vehicles governed speed at all times on the motorway!Umm, no, they really don't. Most drivers are more efficient than car drivers - the odometer shows the most efficient RPM to drive at (green, yellow and red bars around the outside of the odometer), and most do actually follow those recommendations. Lorries are always going to get poor MPGs due to the fact that they're lorries - cars aren't known to carry 40 tonnes of goods! As for driving at the limit on the motorway - would you not say it was safer to travel at a speed similar to the traffic?
i'd like to add,that lorries are restricted to 56 mph on motorways.what speed do you want them to do donkey?
they have tight break rules and have to watch the clock(thanks to euro rules and regs)their jobs are hard enough.
angry monkey, Swindon says...
2:33pm Thu 3 Jul 08
emmylou83 wrote:Superb!
Ok i'm wrong you're right I can't be bothered to argue today
The world needs more females with that attidude ;-)
emmylou83, Stratton says...
2:55pm Thu 3 Jul 08
angry monkey wrote:How did I know you'd approve :o)
emmylou83 wrote: Ok i'm wrong you're right I can't be bothered to argue todaySuperb! The world needs more females with that attidude ;-)
angry monkey, Swindon says...
4:21pm Thu 3 Jul 08
swindonian, swindon says...
5:32pm Thu 3 Jul 08
I am not knocking the brave soldiers.
The first thing a politician needs to do to fight a war is find someone who will fight it for him
emmylou83, Stratton says...
9:53am Fri 4 Jul 08
angry monkey wrote:You wish.
No put yer knickers back on love, and make me a cup of tea!
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Frontier(s), says...
8:24pm Wed 2 Jul 08
People will also have noticed that Brown/Darling managed to defeat the Tories call to scrap the wholly unfair, retrospective Car Tax on second hand cars registered after 2001.
Yet again Labour are hitting the poorest the hardest and yet again they're stealing more of our money to prop up their failed economy.
If anyone believe for one second that one single penny of the massive tax increase will be spent on 'green' concerns then they're insane.
Yet another nail in the coffin of this miserable government.