Trucknet taking a leaf out of the labour party and doing a major U-turn.
How many times have we heard over the years that Trucknet is not a campaigning website, and now they are backing campaigns
Hmmmmmmmm 
Good point Semtex, but we rarely intiate campiagns, but we have always said we we will support issues if approached and asked. in this case we were asked
From the forum guidelines…
We don’t actively campaign as a general rule, although occasionally do support specific causes. If you would like our help in that regard, PM Rikki-UK, or e-mail him at UKAdmin@Truck.Net
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Now posted on Facebook
As usual, I like to take an alternative view point on this. 
Let’s face some facts here : the country is basically bankrupt. They’ve got to generate some cash from somewhere and fuel duty is the easiest target. So you get them to bow down and scrap the escalator/fuel duty reduction - what then? Where’s the money going to come from to get us out of this hole? I’ll tell you where, it’ll be your income tax which will go through the roof to compensate. At least with fuel you have a choice whether to pay it or not (arguably less so in the case of a haulage company) as you can cycle, walk, stay at home or organise your appointments such that you are not making as many journeys. With income tax, everyone gets shafted. I don’t like it any more than the next person but it’s the lesser of the two evils imho. 
I’m with you Rob 
Any haulier that is moaning about high fuel prices is not seeing the bigger picture, if you work your rates out to include a fuel surcharge you’ll earn more money as fuel prices rise 
e.g. You charge 1.50 per mile and have a fuel surcharge set that keeps your fuel at .70ppl nett cost at an MPG figure of 7mpg, yet you get 8mpg from your trucks, so as fuel prices continue to climb, the fuel surcharge will actually pay for a greater percentage of your fuel costs, eventually you’ll be getting paid to put fuel in your trucks
Anyone charging a fixed per mile or day rate for a long term contract is mad, how can you set a rate when you have no idea what your costs will be from one week to the next? 
Rob K:
With income tax, everyone gets shafted.
Good. Everyone should shoulder the burden, why is it up to motorists to bail everyone out ?
Terry T:
Rob K:
With income tax, everyone gets shafted.Good. Everyone should shoulder the burden, why is it up to motorists to bail everyone out ?
It isn’t. That’s entirely my point. No-one is forcing you to drive. Walk/cycle/work from home = no expense to you, unlike income tax which you can’t escape.
newmercman:
I’m with you RobAny haulier that is moaning about high fuel prices is not seeing the bigger picture, if you work your rates out to include a fuel surcharge you’ll earn more money as fuel prices rise
e.g. You charge 1.50 per mile and have a fuel surcharge set that keeps your fuel at .70ppl nett cost at an MPG figure of 7mpg, yet you get 8mpg from your trucks, so as fuel prices continue to climb, the fuel surcharge will actually pay for a greater percentage of your fuel costs, eventually you’ll be getting paid to put fuel in your trucks
Anyone charging a fixed per mile or day rate for a long term contract is mad, how can you set a rate when you have no idea what your costs will be from one week to the next?
Because they know as soon as they start adding escalators that the phone will stop ringing and the competition down the road will be in like a shot doing the work for £1 profit instead of 2.
Rob K:
Terry T:
Rob K:
With income tax, everyone gets shafted.Good. Everyone should shoulder the burden, why is it up to motorists to bail everyone out ?
It isn’t. That’s entirely my point. No-one is forcing you to drive. Walk/cycle/work from home = no expense to you, unlike income tax which you can’t escape.
But that was entirely my point. The country is in trouble and everyone should chip in. There shouldn’t be ways of avoiding coughing up.
Like you said though, motorists are an easy target and always will be.
Terry T:
Rob K:
Terry T:
Rob K:
With income tax, everyone gets shafted.Good. Everyone should shoulder the burden, why is it up to motorists to bail everyone out ?
It isn’t. That’s entirely my point. No-one is forcing you to drive. Walk/cycle/work from home = no expense to you, unlike income tax which you can’t escape.
But that was entirely my point. The country is in trouble and everyone should chip in. There shouldn’t be ways of avoiding coughing up.
Like you said though, motorists are an easy target and always will be.
I get your point, but you’re seemingly forgetting that there’s also a ton of politics at work here as well. There’s a small chance the Tories may get away with shafting us on fuel duty without the short-sighted voting them out again after the term. Shafting us on income tax 100% guarantees us Labour back in again. For them and (arguably) us, it’s still the lesser of the two evils imho. As I said before, it’s not nice but the money has got to come from somewhere. There are no easy rides left.
Talking of easy rides did anyone give you a lift down the A1 or did you have to hitch hike Rob 
I usually go from Wetherby to London every few days but no such luck this week.
fly sheet:
Talking of easy rides did anyone give you a lift down the A1 or did you have to hitch hike RobI usually go from Wetherby to London every few days but no such luck this week.
Going tomorrow, although no thanks to anyone on here… 
(I am of course very grateful to those of you that did offer but days/timings/routings were unsuitable).
Probably better for your ears not going with anyone off here 
Good trip anyway.
Rob K:
newmercman:
I’m with you RobAny haulier that is moaning about high fuel prices is not seeing the bigger picture, if you work your rates out to include a fuel surcharge you’ll earn more money as fuel prices rise
e.g. You charge 1.50 per mile and have a fuel surcharge set that keeps your fuel at .70ppl nett cost at an MPG figure of 7mpg, yet you get 8mpg from your trucks, so as fuel prices continue to climb, the fuel surcharge will actually pay for a greater percentage of your fuel costs, eventually you’ll be getting paid to put fuel in your trucks
Anyone charging a fixed per mile or day rate for a long term contract is mad, how can you set a rate when you have no idea what your costs will be from one week to the next?
Because they know as soon as they start adding escalators that the phone will stop ringing and the competition down the road will be in like a shot doing the work for £1 profit instead of 2.
So we get people campaigning to rid of our industry of something that, if we run our businesses correctly, can make our industry more financially stable in the present economic times 
Too many people are in this industry that clearly don’t belong there, undercutting rates can only go so far before it sends you out of business, so in my opinion we need 2 quid a litre diesel, get rid of all the bad businessmen and let the switched on hauliers reap the rewards, there’ll still be as many trucks on the road because the same amount of freight will be out there, so jobs will still be around, but instead of working for some rigger boot wearing chav and driving around in a truck that has more spent on lights than it does on improving its productivity, wondering if your wages will be in the bank this week, you’ll be working for a professional company and earning professional wages, as you bloody well should
A penny or two on income tax wont break the bank for most tax payers in my opinion. When your adding taxation to fuel your also taking the spending power out of peoples pockets and added extra cost to haulage and in turn goods. To derv up my motor for a weeks work last year cost me £30 dabs, now its £35. The reflextion in cost of income tax across the nation is no where near the same margins but will generate significantely more revenue accross the board.
trubble is its more often tha not the larger firms cutting the rates to start with it stands to reason if you have 800 trucks and only make £15 proffit per truck per day thats £12000 i only run one so what can i do with £15 proffit
working out costs is not a problem finding good rates is!
these larger contracts change hands more often than not for cost savings not a promise of a better service
if fuel was £2 per litre youd still have the likes of city/innovate carving the job up “all flash no cash”
then they leave a mess behind
UK registered (O licence) hauliers should get a tax refund (% ?) on top of the vat you can already claim back. It will level field with rest of EU and allow UK road hauliers to continue to “help haul the UK out of the recession”.
Agreed but unlikely to happen Phil T Tramp.As the posters above have said lets see a fuel increase! Crazy. OK you run a big 4x4 you accept you will pay more in fuel, tax, insurance.As such YOU are a bigger earner (for example), you can afford more in a small rise in income tax anyway. Moreover, you dont provide the country with goods with that vehicle, you dont provide jobs to people, its a personal item to use.
The money raised on a small amount of income tax COULD subsidies haulage there in making it a viable option to make goods cheaper and so effectively greasing the wheels of the state more to provide greater spending in the long term.
The biggest expenditure for most Uk people are their houses and cars to get to work, tax them to death on both and the country will dry up! No one will spend. Equals, hault in the economy.
Funding private enterprise!!! Now where have I seen that before? Tax credits for low wage earners!!! Maybe the haulage game has too many players and needs slashing back a bit?? Or maybe they should be more realistic about rates etc…