BUDGET GLOOM
Page 5
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
GLOOM shrouded the road haulage business on Tuesday night after the details of the Budget were announced.
Both the Freight Transport Association and the Road Haulage Association bitterly attacked the increase in fuel prices and also the 25 per cent jump in the cost of a commercial vehicle road fund licence.
The RHA put the cost of the Budget to the industry of between £120 and £130 million. The FTA went further — it thought the price of Chancellor Healey's moves would be £158 million.
An RHA spokesman said: "There is no way we can absorb this increase. It will be passed straight on to the customer.
"We don't accept the Chancellor's arguments on road track costs, especially on vehicles in the six to 32-ton range."
An FTA spokesman said: "The Chancellor has seen the industry as the mulch cow. Costs of everything will go up, everything that we consume and export."