Road Haulage and Freight Interests Back Call for Fuel Enquiry

UK – Having mentioned the success of the FairFuelUK recently it seems the organisation, supported by trade bodies such as the Road Haulage Association (RHA) and the Freight Transport Association (FTA), is stepping up the pressure on the government in the run up to next year’s General Election. The organisation has called on Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, to set an Office of Fair Trading enquiry into fuel pricing at the pumps.

Mr Alexander has called for oil companies and retailers to lower prices, something described by FairFuel as ‘a bit rich and opportunistic’ in light of the fact the government takes over 62% in tax. FairFuel has suggested that its own enquiries have indicated that a 3p cut in fuel duty would be productive by encouraging growth in business and particularly for the haulage industry. Howard Cox founder of FairFuelUK said:

"Our calculations [show] if you take Fuel Duty out of the equation, because oil has dropped by about 25 to 30% in the last 4 months, the pump price, which is currently averaging for petrol 124.9p, should be lower, at least 114.9p possibly even less with diesel about 3 to 5p more. We believe oil speculators are stopping the price decrease happening quicker for their own profiteering motives."

FairFuel claims support from over one million members of the public as well as organisations such as the RAC, the Association of Pallet Networks (APN) and the trade body that represents LPG businesses, UKLPG, and Quentin Wilson, who fronts the campaign commented:

"We can't have a posse of speculative operators, led by the big banks, playing games with our financial future. The recession in 2007/8 began when the supply chain buckled under the weight of the $145 barrel. We simply cannot ever allow that to happen again. In our opinion, the sooner we have legislation to stop opportunistic oil speculation by non-physical trading activity, the better."