RHA rejects direct action on duty
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Ja The People's Fuel Lobby still seems set on some form of direct action this week but details were impossible to pin down as Commercial Motor went to press.
The news came as the government announced the date of the general election as 7 June.
PFL spokesman Paul Ashley says that the group has "something up its sleeve," but declined to be more specific.
However, John Bridge, the national chairman of the Road Haulage Association, has called for industry-wide restraint in the run-up to polling day.
He explains that although he supported the protest action in September, now is
not the time for blockades: "At the moment it is folly to think that we can influence anything as an industry by demonstrating again.
"I believe that we have got to take a very responsible attitude and the time for pretests is not during a general election."
Bridge says that although the level of fuel duty is still too high, the industry has gained the best channels of communication with the government that it has ever had and this is the way to tackle the problem.
The RHA is urging its members to ask all parliamentary candidates what they will do for their local hauliers.
• See comment, page B.