Better Transport

Campaign for Better Transport [1] today urged the Chancellor not to back down to hauliers and to stick with its planned 2p fuel duty increase for April [2].   

Jason Torrance, the group’s campaigns director, said:
“With the threat of climate change, hauliers should be asking the Chancellor for bigger incentives to go green and make their fleets more fuel efficient, rather than asking for cheaper motoring.  The 2p increase is the first in years and is desperately needed to prevent the real cost of motoring from going down further.”  

Campaign for Better Transport has produced a factsheet correcting some of the myths surrounding fuel duty:

• Fuel duty has not been increasing in line with inflation since 2000, with the small increase in October 2007 the first in years
• Tax, as a percentage of fuel, has not been this low since 1993
• Higher fuel prices are down to high oil prices not because of fuel duty
• The real cost of motoring has fallen in the past decade, while the cost of taking public transport has increased

The factsheet is available online: http://www.bettertransport.org.uk/campaigns/climate_change/roads/facts  

Notes to editors
[1] Campaign for Better Transport is the new name of Transport 2000, which has been securing better transport policy and programmes since 1973.

[2] Representatives of the Road Haulage Association and Freight Transport Association are meeting with the Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling today.  See http://www.rha.net/press-releases/truck-operators-meet-chancellor/view