Hauliers set up Irish depots to cut fuel tax (From Western Telegraph)

Hauliers set up Irish depots to cut fuel tax

Pembrokeshires road hauliers are setting up depots in Southern Ireland to avoid crippling fuel costs.

Goodwick-based W. F. Hall and Son operates 20% of its fleet from Rosslare because it is cheaper to ship lorries by ferry to and from the Irish port than it is to fill-up with fuel in Britain.

Chancellor Gordon Browns decision to freeze fuel duty in his Budget has done nothing to appease hauliers like Martin Hall.

The cost of filling up his Welsh-based lorries has increased by five pence a litre since trouble flared up between Israel and the Palestinians.

Why are we the only country in Europe which has raised its fuel price since fighting began? he asks.

The Government has done nothing to stop foreign lorries coming over here with cheap fuel in their tanks and under-cutting us.

Mr Hall insists he had no alternative to transferring part of his fleet to Rosslare. If I hadnt done so I wouldnt still be in business, he says. He is paying 64p a litre for diesel in Britain before VAT, while in Southern Ireland it is costing him 36p.

Frenni Transport, of Crymych, runs 20 heavy goods vehicles and has yet to follow Martin Halls lead. But director Simon Parry says the high running costs associated with operating businesses in Britain is compounding the fuel duty burden for companies like his.

The Chancellor has increased our overall costs by adding to the National Insurance contributions of our 30 employees, he says.

We have to comply with a lot of red tape and have to bear the cost burden of this with issues such as administering the new pension arrangements. I am pleased the Chancellor hasnt raised fuel tax but the price has already gone up considerably in recent weeks and is being borne by ourselves, our customers and the public.

The Road Hauliers Association and the Freight Transport Association have been urging the Government to consider a fuel tax rebate to essential users like themselves.

This, says Simon Parry, would mean businesses like his could compete with foreign rivals. Forty per cent of the lorries on British roads are foreign, taking away work from our drivers, he says.

A threat by hauliers to blockade the ferry ports at Fishguard and Pembroke Dock has been put on hold. It had been hinted that the two Pembrokeshire ports would be high on a list of possible targets if the Chancellor increased the fuel duty.

But Mark Greene, of the South and West Wales Hauliers, says the group will meet next week to decide what, if any, action to take.