Extra costs of fuel prices

BRITAIN’S beleaguered haulage industry is well used to taking repeated economic blows. Constantly having to absorb the relentlessly rising price of fuel and fighting what must often seem like a lone battle against the large proportion of that price that is made up of tax, the industry somehow continues to keep the nation’s goods moving.

Now, however, the price of fuel has brought with it yet another cost, that of theft and criminal damage. For, according to a national police study to be released later this week, increasing quantities of diesel are being siphoned from parked lorries with the thieves often damaging the vehicles by drilling into the tanks to reach the precious fuel.

In fact, the problem may be even worse than the study reveals because hauliers have now become so used to thefts that many are going unreported.

The very fact that this is a police study is an encouraging sign that forces are starting to take this problem seriously.

However, this is not a matter for law enforcement alone. The Government may not be able to do much about the world price of fuel, but it can act to reduce fuel tax.

Chancellor George Osborne did at least take some action to cut fuel duty in last month’s budget. He could, however, go much further. Being perceived as a huge contributor to greenhouse gases, the haulage industry may not be a fashionable cause, but its function is a vital one. And, with the economy still struggling for growth, should Mr Osborne take further action in this direction, hauliers will not be the only ones breathing a sigh of relief.