Warning of risk to hauliers as average diesel price hits £2 per litre
Analysis by the RAC Foundation has shown that the average price of diesel in the UK has now passed the £2 per litre mark, following record highs earlier this week.
The RAC Foundation’s analysis is based on data from the government’s Fuel Finder service. The £2 per litre mark for diesel was reached at 8am today, it says. Petrol is at 174.7p per litre on average, according to the foundation’s figures.
Logistics UK chief executive Ben Fletcher told Transport Operator that rising fuel prices were placing “sustained pressure on logistics businesses that already operate on narrow margins”.
“Filling up an HGV has risen from around £750 to over £1,000 during this crisis and may go even higher,” he said.
“Logistics costs affect the price of everything we buy, so expensive fuel means higher prices for hardworking families who are already facing cost of living pressures.
“To support growth across the wider economy and reduce the risk of driving inflation, we are urging the chancellor to maintain the current 5p cut in fuel duty in the Autumn Budget and confirm this will continue into next year. Even a 1p rise would have a significant impact and cost the sector close to £100 million.”
Campaign group FairFuelUK has gone further. Reporting that thousands of forecourts are displaying diesel prices between £2.05 and £2.18, it is calling for government to deliver an emergency 10p per litre fuel duty cut immediately, rather than waiting to act at the Autumn Budget scheduled for 28 October. It says that the 10p cut would save £3,000 to £5,000 per year for a 44-tonne truck, whereas delaying action would result in “unnecessary financial hardship” for hauliers.
FairFuelUK cites one of its supporters, an anonymous owner-driver of a large HGV subcontracting in the aggregates sector, who said he was finding it impossible to secure haulage rate increases to cover full costs.
“I’m paying an extra £1,800 a month for fuel,” he said.
“It’s only a matter of time before hard-working truck owners like me go bankrupt, losing our homes… We deserve better than this.”
According to the campaign group, his experience reflects that of thousands of small hauliers and logistics businesses “contacting FairFuelUK in despair, now facing crippling costs that threaten their livelihoods”.
Howard Cox, the group’s founder, accused the government of “twiddling its thumbs”.
“Every day they delay costs drivers money they simply don’t have,” he said.
“A 10p cut in fuel duty would put instant cash back into people’s pockets — over £6 for a family car and thousands for a 44-ton truck. Waiting until October 28 is not leadership; it’s negligence. Act now, cut duty now, and stop hammering Britain’s motorists, hauliers and farmers.”
Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said: “The average price of diesel has just passed the psychological £2 a litre mark. Eighty-six pence of that goes straight to the chancellor in tax, a mix of fuel duty and VAT. If this government wanted to help drivers and businesses it could cut the amount of tax it takes.
“The prime minister says politics is about choices. Unfortunately most of the nation’s drivers don’t have the choice of whether to make a journey or not. They have to take the financial pain being inflicted on the forecourts.
“There are around 4.6 million vans and 10.3 million cars powered by diesel on the UK’s roads with a further 18.9 million cars fuelled by petrol.”
Earlier this month the Road Haulage Association (RHA) said that 80 per cent of those polled in a recent survey it commissioned want fuel duty cut or frozen, amidst fears that rising fuel and transport costs will increase the price of essential household goods. It reiterated its call for an essential fuel user rebate for the road transport sector.
RHA managing director Richard Smith said: “A fuel duty hike is a food price hike, and there’s clear public support to change course. People across the country are concerned about what fuel duty rises will do to their household budgets and the price of the weekly shop, and they’re right to be.
“Almost everything on supermarket shelves got there on a lorry. When diesel goes up that cost has nowhere to go but on to the price of goods.
“Scrapping the planned fuel duty rises is the cheapest inflation control this government has. An essential user rebate would also protect jobs, protect businesses and protect household budgets…
“We’re asking the chancellor to listen. It’s time to back the businesses that keep Britain moving and stop the fuel duty hikes that push up costs for households.”
