Why , all they will all do is cut the rates, sorry expensive fuel is here to stay deal with it and move on…DHOOOO!
fuse:
Why , all they will all do is cut the rates, sorry expensive fuel is here to stay deal with it and move on…DHOOOO!
FTA/RHA the sooner these organisations go bust the better, they will take your subscription money then they will lobby the government and back you all the way - won’t they? Like f**k they will, with your money they bugger off and have conferences in the sun, the Med or Carribean, they don’t really care and then once a year before the budget they announce that the gov should reduce fuel taxes - what a rip off! All they want are the big names on their books to look prestigious - tossers!
brados:
fuse:
Why , all they will all do is cut the rates, sorry expensive fuel is here to stay deal with it and move on…DHOOOO!FTA/RHA the sooner these organisations go bust the better, they will take your subscription money then they will lobby the government and back you all the way - won’t they? Like f**k they will, with your money they bugger off and have conferences in the sun, the Med or Carribean, they don’t really care and then once a year before the budget they announce that the gov should reduce fuel taxes - what a rip off! All they want are the big names on their books to look prestigious - tossers!
Sorry Brados but we need these organisations…
We need them to start acting like cartels and putting the rates for doing the job up to where they should be so that everybody can make a living. The firms that belong to these clubs are generally the ones that have the power to increase rates but tend to spend more time cutting each others throats for market share.
These clubs could stop fuel duty increases by increasing the rates they charge by doubling any rise in running costs, these would have to passed on to the consumer which would not be good politically 
They could of stopped the LEZ in its tracks by all agreeing to charge £200 a day on top of the normal rate for going to London whether the truck was permitted or not
They could reduce the numbers of foreign hauliers taking your work by blacklisting UK companies that use foreign hauliers ( A bit extreme i know 
) and by not subbing work out to them at rates noncompetitive rates.
They could encourage the Government to bring in consignor and consignee liability laws which would virtually rule out illegal running overnight because with proper rates nobody would have an excuse for running bent.
Its early I must still be dreaming 
The key to all this is cheap liability insurance. Once this is no longer affordable to the employer, they will initially try and pass it onto the employee by insisting they are Self Employed.
Should this strategem fail, then what? - It seems that “prepared to work for low wages” gets you higher up the pecking order for getting fresh work than experience, clean licence, & good background etc. If insurance fell over, the roles would be reversed, with employers only prepared to employ the very cream so they lower as much as possible the chances of getting their vehicles smashed up - or worse, causing some serious third-party damage!
It’s a bit like the Banks - You’d think they’d be careful who they lend to now, but no, they are lending it out like confetti to poor credit risks - because they pay top dollar in interest which of course is their life blood. Good credit risks return such a low rate that banks can’t be arsed to run their accounts anymore. We all know it will result in another credit crunch, but no one at the banks will listen until it happens, and someone in government decides that this time around there’s going to be not just “no bailout” but credit managers will be going to jail as well! …Oh well, maybe I’m dreaming too, but I have dreams of a proper capitalist society rather than this pseudo-communist bullcrap that seems to run the western world these days. 
Any changes to fuel levys will have no effect, as any cuts won’t be fully passed onto the consumer, because the government won’t consider “fixing” the price at the pumps to a level that is in the public interest.
Brent Crude Oil runs at a very high premium to other kinds of Oil, because under the brent contract you get guaranteed delivery anywhere you want it. Other types of crude you have to go get it yourself. Imagine how little Iranian crude is worth at the moment with that thought in mind?
Western crude in general is being pumped up in price because of the perceived risk of Iranian oil going off-line.
It’s already off line in they cannot sell it on the open market for top dollar anymore - they have to smuggle it out of their own country at a huge discount to those prepared to come and get it - China for instance. Indeed, China are currently attempting to negotiate a rather bigger discount on this very issue as we speak! Don’t worry about the prospect of War with Iran since we also must not forget that the day Gulf War 1 broke out (1991) the price of Crude on the markets COLLAPSED - once again having been pumped up prior to the war. Speculators buy the rumour and sell the fact. You don’t back a horse that’s just won - you collect your winnings on it or you sit out! People who back this year’s Grand National winner ante-post for next year’s national at a silly low price are throwing their money away, as there’s a damned good chance the horse won’t even be DECLARED for next year’s race - let alone run in it and let alone win it! There are so many ways to lose your money before the race even starts, that bookmakers can comfortably quote ANY horse at over 100-1 odds - knowing that 9 out of 10 horses “seemingly suitable for declaration now” won’t be come the day.
Sooner or later however, the oil scare blows away, and we get cheap oil again. In the 70’s, during THAT oil scare, everyone was saying that “Dear fuel is here forever”.
Crude fell to less than a tenner a barrel as recently as the 1991 aftermath of GulfWar1.
People forget, and they’ve forgotten again by the looks of it that what goes up always comes down in the end.
When fuel finally does fall back as it must, transport will become so cheap, that logistics firms will be headhunting for those premium drivers that have not yet retired… I’m thinking around year 2020 here. Initially, most firms will seek to extract the urine and continue paying poor wages whilst their other overheads collapse in price. This presents a huge opportunity for a big player already in place to suddenly poach the cream from the entire field, and drive other firms under because they can’t and won’t afford the new meaty payscales as freshly set for tomorrow’s drivers.
Feet of clay eventually snap off. At the moment however, it’s raining and those clay feet might as well be a mud tide mark on your boots. 
annitram:
brados:
fuse:
Why , all they will all do is cut the rates, sorry expensive fuel is here to stay deal with it and move on…DHOOOO!FTA/RHA the sooner these organisations go bust the better, they will take your subscription money then they will lobby the government and back you all the way - won’t they? Like f**k they will, with your money they bugger off and have conferences in the sun, the Med or Carribean, they don’t really care and then once a year before the budget they announce that the gov should reduce fuel taxes - what a rip off! All they want are the big names on their books to look prestigious - tossers!
Sorry Brados but we need these organisations…
We need them to start acting like cartels and putting the rates for doing the job up to where they should be so that everybody can make a living. The firms that belong to these clubs are generally the ones that have the power to increase rates but tend to spend more time cutting each others throats for market share.
These clubs could stop fuel duty increases by increasing the rates they charge by doubling any rise in running costs, these would have to passed on to the consumer which would not be good politically
They could of stopped the LEZ in its tracks by all agreeing to charge £200 a day on top of the normal rate for going to London whether the truck was permitted or not
They could reduce the numbers of foreign hauliers taking your work by blacklisting UK companies that use foreign hauliers ( A bit extreme i know
They could encourage the Government to bring in consignor and consignee liability laws which would virtually rule out illegal running overnight because with proper rates nobody would have an excuse for running bent.
Its early I must still be dreaming[/u][/i][/b]
[/quote]
Yes!!!
First hand experience of RHA as an owner with 4 trucks in the early 90’s.
The guy came to see me about joining and turned up at my unit which doubled as a warehouse/workshop with a small office for me, he looked disgusted that someone like me wanted to join, muddy yard and no ■■■■ facilities for the ladies (except the bush in the corner of the yard) he had the old school tie and the mandatory handlebar tache - he asked ME why I wanted to join! I told him I was approached by them, he looked annoyed that the phone kept ringing (work) and that I was changing a clutch on a Scania on my own, where is your mechanic he asked, I told him I gave him the day off because he might get dirty, and he couldn’t wait to show me pictures of their latest dinner bash in Spain of all places - ON MY BEHALF. Told me how they wine and dine ministers at the very highest level and all that bollox, all on my behalf don’t forget, where is your secretary today asked the ■■■ as well, I nearly smacked him in the mouth! He showed me all the bumf, well all the major hauliers with umpteen wagons that are members of their club and said you can put our logo on all your paperwork to show you are a member and you can work to our conditions of carriage (not one of my customers would accept their conditions of carriage because in the words of one of them it was a load of crap and that if I tried to use them in the event of any claim I would get no more work from them) and please put these tacky stickers all over your trucks, not bloody likely I said, I am paying you, when you pay me to advertise for you then I will, when the important bit came he was all smiles - just give me the cheque now then and he was off, I did mean to complain because I had never seem anyone drive out of our yard that fast!
I took insurance with Roadway because they gave the best price at the time but only for the first year, every year after that they were quite a bit more expensive, their goods in transit was okay too but I had to up the limits quite a lot as we carried items that were valued at more than a tenner!
No, these organisations should just be rebadged - tory clubs one/two etc.
If they (RHA/FTA) told all their members between them to park the trucks up and don’t buy any fuel until something is done about all the points mentioned above then I would have some respect for them as a genuine organisation to care for the interests of their members, it will never happen, there is more chance of me buying a round of drinks for Elvis, Amy and Whitney than that happening!
annitram:
brados:
fuse:
Why , all they will all do is cut the rates, sorry expensive fuel is here to stay deal with it and move on…DHOOOO!FTA/RHA the sooner these organisations go bust the better, they will take your subscription money then they will lobby the government and back you all the way - won’t they? Like f**k they will, with your money they bugger off and have conferences in the sun, the Med or Carribean, they don’t really care and then once a year before the budget they announce that the gov should reduce fuel taxes - what a rip off! All they want are the big names on their books to look prestigious - tossers!
Sorry Brados but we need these organisations…
We need them to start acting like cartels and putting the rates for doing the job up to where they should be so that everybody can make a living. The firms that belong to these clubs are generally the ones that have the power to increase rates but tend to spend more time cutting each others throats for market share.
These clubs could stop fuel duty increases by increasing the rates they charge by doubling any rise in running costs, these would have to passed on to the consumer which would not be good politically
They could of stopped the LEZ in its tracks by all agreeing to charge £200 a day on top of the normal rate for going to London whether the truck was permitted or not
They could reduce the numbers of foreign hauliers taking your work by blacklisting UK companies that use foreign hauliers ( A bit extreme i know
They could encourage the Government to bring in consignor and consignee liability laws which would virtually rule out illegal running overnight because with proper rates nobody would have an excuse for running bent.
Its early I must still be dreaming
You do understand that businesses are in competition with each other, don’t you?
Stevie
I’ve never seen the point of the RHA, FTA and what ever other TA’s there are. Pay my money to you to lobby parliament about road transport issues & whatever other BS you do?
Just can’t see the point other than waving you willy about with lots of stickers stuck on it of the various pointless institutions you are part of as if membership makes you some sort of super haulier.
That’s the rate, I’ll get the job done without fail is the only sticker i’ve ever needed.
Expensive diesel is here to stay & will only get ever more so in the years to come. Market forces, put your rates up or go out of business, simples.