RHA campaigns: a long agenda

By the time you read this we will probably know – or have a good indication – what the Chancellor is doing about fuel duty. And I can only say that a tremendous amount of work has been done to carry forward the great campaigning successes of 2011 into this year. Whatever happens, we must [...]

Fuel Alarm Bells Ringing

The combination of a planned fuel duty increase in August and inflated crude oil prices – resulting from tension in the Middle East – has set the alarm bells ringing…Again. Headlines warn that fuel prices could hit £1.65 a litre within weeks, with the potential of a three pence duty increase to follow in August. [...]

Five pence relief – the war on fuel duty goes on

The price of fuel you are buying today is five pence per litre lower than it might have been due to the campaigning work of the RHA and its partners through FairFuel UK. This saving is because of the cancellation of the ‘escalator’ of one pence, the postponement of an inflation rise of three pence [...]

Our plea to the Chancellor

The RHA will be taking part in the presentation of a petition to 10 Downing Street on 2 March and I hope that you have signed up to the FairFuel UK campaign, which is also supported by the FTA and a number of other organisations. In addition to the petition, we have been working with [...]

RHA and members: a powerful team

As I write this, the price of fuel is very close to the all-time high of £1.09 pence per litre plus VAT reached in January 2008. Oil prices have risen in the last two weeks, so it is likely that the price of diesel will have risen further by the time you read this. The [...]

Working with government

It was a real pleasure to see the Secretary of State for Transport visiting our offices in Weybridge. As our local MP, we had already met Philip Hammond at a constituency event, but his acceptance of an invitation to visit the RHA and to be interviewed for ROADWAY gave us an opportunity to question one [...]

Awards Lunch is great success

The RHA’s first Awards Lunch was widely regarded as a great success. We had more than 250 people in the Grand Connaught Rooms to hear a wide-ranging speech from our chairman, listen to the new Logistics Minister Mike Penning, and find out who had won each of our five new awards. RHA chairman Andy Boyle [...]

Deliver UK: make a difference

Over the past ten years or so, many RHA members have written to MPs using standard letters prepared by the RHA. More often than not, the response has been lukewarm to say the least and, as a result, there is widespread cynicism about the effectiveness of contacting your MP. The time has come to change [...]

Lorry charging: a Trojan horse?

Our government seems to be committed to finding a way of making a Lorry Road User Charge scheme work, with its programme including a new system of charging which will ‘ensure a fairer arrangement for UK hauliers.’

The RHA’s established policy on fuel duty is in three parts: we are looking for stability on prices; we expect to see meaningful charges being applied to foreign operators, and we require a rebate scheme that will result in no increase in costs for UK hauliers. It is on this basis that any discussion with the DfT will be taken forward.

Driver CPC: threat or opportunity?

As an industry we have always had an element of cynicism in response to change or efforts to regulate our activities.

Far too many employers have an in-built reluctance to train staff and many drivers choose not to improve their knowledge and are scared of any attempt to do so.