P LETTER OF THE WEEK
Page 20

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Time to stand together, make a fight of it, save the industry and the planet
RIGHT, ENOUGH is enough. It's time to act — this government, seems hell-bent on closing Britain's transport industry down.
Fuel protests only have the effect of having every agency against us. All the big players frown and say protest isn't the right way (unless you are getting the money off your VED as in the RPC, which we fought for in 2000— a nice earner for the big fleets, and you did nowt to get it). We all know our 0-licences have been threatened, so now is the time to change the way we fight this.
I'm all for going green. The government tells us it is for the benefit of the planet. Big fleets are only profitable because of their size, but look how much profit they make when they're broken down, on a vehicle-by-vehicle basis. Plimsoll reckons its 3%. Crap really.
So, my solution is 'Save the Planet Week'. Yes, let's all park half our fleets up for a week. How green is that? How much CO, will that prevent .The industry loves to bend over backwards to comply with all the EU laws forced on us, so let's do this off our own backs.
Let's see if it really is an environmental issue. Get the trucks off the road, general, food, fuel, papers, the whole lot, and let's see how appreciated we really are. This includes you big players. If you really value the lifeblood of our country, we need to act now. Get off the fence and, just for once, show some balls and fight for the survival of our profession. Let's get this government to act. We can do it easily if we all stand together. Paul Townsend By e-mail