has anyone heard anything about any fuel protests i know a couple of the suffolk hauliers where on the radio saying it was time for action again giving a dead line of next wednesday
i heard they are planning to start on wednesday. blackading refineries again same as last time
Yeh i think its time some think was done. 
My other half works part time in a petrol station and they have been given advance warning by the petrol company that there will be protests on wednesday.
There are also rumurs of blockading actual filling stations as well>
read elsewhere this morning there`s a go-slow planned next friday on the m4 from cross hands to magor, then return to cross hands.
I heard that every 40p of each ltr is tax anyway 
I voted no, I took part in the action last time, it was at the BP yard at Wymondham, what did it acheave, for a short window of opurtunity we were able to influence government, but i dont think they are going to allow themselves to be held to ransome again, and with the advanced warning will have put contigency measures in place to negate any effect of protest. I also think that the media spin machine, and specificaly those media organisations whose owners are close to the government, will be putting in place a concerted effort to black the allready dark image that the public has of our industry and those that are in it, remember that after the last protest had died away, certain trade union leaders and spokesman, started to go on the media to claim that tanker drivers had been threatened verbaly or physicaly or swide swipped whilst driving their tankers, i dont know if this was true but we had a good rapoer with the tanker drivers at our protest, mainly them drinking our tea 
if it goes ahead, then i wish all those who take part the very best of luck, but stay calm and dont do anything silly
i suppose we will see the poor farmers out again protesting.Unable to change the range rover this year because of the fuel increases.
the government have a plan already.
as soon as any action is taken against the fuel companies/refineries they will ration fuel for the public.
i personally think that they should ration fuel now.
they should allow trucks to run on rebated diesel (red) for the month of october with a promise of a review for the following months.
private vehicle owners will have to collect tokens for their fuel allowance with an average amount of fuel allowed based on the average family saloon mpg and 10,000 miles per annum travelled.
those that run more economical cars will be able to use their vehicles more often or travel more miles whilst those with big engined cars will have to reduce the amount they use their cars or the amount of miles travelled etc.
these proposals will have an immediate effect on congestion and traffic flow will once again be something that can be witnessed and not imagined.
My heart says yes but my head say no.
At best it will be ineffective, at worst someone will get hurt or lose their livelihood. If you cause an obstruction with a truck the LA could take action against your O or LGV licences. If you block the highway or an entrance with your body you could end up in gaol. If you stand to one side with a banner and shout nothing will happen.
The only legal way I suppose would be for all tanker drivers to hold ballots and strike. Not even sure about that, is striking legal under such circumstances?
Salut, David.
[
I have been speaking to a retired driver in Liverpool, he had a great idea, and one I have advocated for some years. If every haulage boss closed their yards for 2 weeks, ( holiday for everyone) parked the waggons up for that time it would make a big statement to the government. We in this country are soft when it comes to protesting, some will some will not. When France for instance have a problem its all out till it is resolved in their favour. I do not favour violence but as most of the price of fuel is tax, then every man and woman should be shouting about it as we all know fuel up cost of running trucks etc goes up and the prices for the housewife shoots up, and nothing seems to go down.
As for the comment made regarding farmers not knowing where their next vehicle is coming from, its just not true. As an ex farmers wife I can assure you many farmers and their families are on the bread line and the rate for suicide among farmers is one of the highest in the country., and its not because they can not get a new range/ land rover.
Danneke[/b]
Danneke:
[
As for the comment made regarding farmers not knowing where their next vehicle is coming from, its just not true. As an ex farmers wife I can assure you many farmers and their families are on the bread line and the rate for suicide among farmers is one of the highest in the country., and its not because they can not get a new range/ land rover.
Danneke[/b]
Yes this is true, but with one caviat that i’ll come later. The image of farmer gentry is true of the arable barons, but many infact the majority are living a very hand to mouth existance as tenants, which is why most of their offspring want nothing to do with farming, the large acreage owning industrial farms are the ones that get noticed, and give the industry a bad image, sound familiar, and these are not so badly effected by market forces because of their large scale.
Now to put in my caviat, many farmers are prone to giving you an income figure which maybe as low as £5000 per anum, these are tenants or small scale land owners, what they fail to mention is that they claim virtualy all their living expenses through their business, as self employed sole traders, living on site as well. therefore the the £5000 can be considered pure disposable income, where as an employee such as an LGV driver might long to see £100 a week pure disposable income But i’m not anti farmer,
Regarding the fuel protests, I say bring it on !
Consider some points.
In 2000 there was an election looming within a year. This time the next election is 4 years away.
If the movement of fuel in this country is restricted to protest at the level of tax on fuel the fuel companies are likely to ship the stuff to the US. Katrina took out a large part of the worlds REFINING capacity so there is no problem with finding a market. In fact the problem with the price of fuel is the global shortage of REFINING capacity, and demand from growing economies like China and India, that is behind much of the price rise in the past few months.
Gordon Brown has this week been making speeches in which, among other things, he calls for investment in environmentally friendly fuels. Not going to happen without some sort of tax break and certainly not quickly. The UK is no longer energy self sufficient so has to suffer the same market forces as the rest of the energy dependant. Relatively cheap fuel is a thing of the past with current technologies.
A good revinue would come from the non tax paying foriegn trucks that are covering our country.
We pay to drive over there so why not levy a £5-£10 a day tax on them.
We have to do it so why cant they.
Tony b.
Yes but
I commented on JV’s show the other day but it was heavily edited.
I think that by blockading the refineries again we will get us nowhere.
The government knows from bitter experience what happens when we do this and they will not let it happen again.
By blockading the goverment can get it’s propergander machine rolling painting us as the bad guys again .remember last time
" the docters ,nurses vets firemen etc etc cant get to work everybody is in danger blah blah blah"
I strongly think we need to get the RHA to back direct action.
If every member of the RHA parked up for 1 day I think the government will get a wake up call.(you cant be arrested for staying at home but you can for protesting)
I know the RHA & FTA are getting together to pay for the “Burns Report” but it’s no good commissioning a study that wont report 'til 3 years time
We are going out of Business now.
In 3 years a good percentage of UK haul;age will be gone.
I think we need to separate ourselves from the “fuel lobby” because we need more than a cut in fuel price we also need the Brit Disc to come in.
If we can get an Essential User Rebate (as France & Belgium have done) that will help with our biggest cost & the Brit Disc will help offset the loss the government will take by gaining an income that it never had before.
The Brit Disc would be so simple to administrate - Every vehicle that comes into this country has to stop at the ticket boothes for the ferries/train why not make every non-Uk registered vehicle pay for a paper disc at these boothes for the estimated time the expect to be in the country before the are allowed to embark.Upon leaving they hand back the disc If they have gone over their estimate they pay extra if they leave earlier they get a refund.
The goverment says they cannot charge foreign vehicles for somthing we dont get charged for.
Ok why not rename our “Road Fund Licence” - Brit Disc and let us buy it in blocks of
1 day
1 week
1 month
3 months
6 months
1 year
Then we are all buying the same tax.
A by-product of this scheme would be that our international hauliers would only have to pay for tax whilst in the UK thus levelling the field even more & making them more competitive
Just a thought
Wink
Is there an echo on these forums Sean 
Rob K:
Is there an echo on these forums Sean
couldn’t be bothered to write it twice and it’s the same subject 
north surrey haulage:
The goverment says they cannot charge foreign vehicles for somthing we dont get charged for.
…But they CAN charge British vehicles for something foreign vehicles don’t get charged for [Road fund licence].■■?
In anticipation of the protests,I heard the other day,that our company have bought 1/2 a million litres of diesel in advance of any trouble.All of our drivers have been told to outsource fuel on their cards,and not to use any stocks we have in our yards,in case there are any problems at garages.
And another interesting item I overheard…
Phoney Blur,and his cronies,have guaranteed,that any companies that transport,or are directly connected with the delivery of food,will get diesel,however,it was rumoured that Asda,had forgot to apply to be put on the list,but my guess is some pound notes will have since changed hands,to ensure that they are.
Allegedly of course.
Ken.