Public backs hauliers Survey for Commercial Motor reveals surprising support
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from the British public for road transport industry and its hauliers Words: ii...1111=,L.,1 uLe aim ItupIIeu vvauon WOULD YOU BELIEVE that most British people want to see the government give British hauliers the chance to compete with their foreign rivals on a level playing field? Would you believe that voters want politicians to cut fuel duty to support British business?
It might sound like a dream, but it appears the commonly held view that the public dislikes trucks and has little affection for the firms that run them is wide of the mark, according to ComRes research conducted on behalf of CM. Of those surveyed, 71% wanted UK road freight and haulage companies to pay a lower rate of tax on diesel than other vehicles to allow them to compete more fairly with foreign trucks.
Last month chancellor George Osborne froze fuel duty at 57.95 pence per litre for diesel, ignoring FairFuelUK's (FFUK) call for a cut that would bring duty in line with other European countries. Last year the campaign group published data showing the UK has the highest rate of duty in the European Union, with Italy second at 49.61ppl. Some of the lowest rates can be found in Poland (29.02ppl), Bulgaria (26.94ppl) and Romania (26.11ppl).1,1-UK founder Peter Carroll said he was pleasantly surprised the public appear willing to support an essential user rebate.
And 62% of those surveyed believe there are too many foreign trucks on UK roads. This perception exists despite a slight year-on-year fall in the number of foreign-registered trucks, recorded by the Department for Transport leaving the UK on their return journeys. It hit its peak in 2007 with 17 million leaving UK shores, compared to 1.4 million in 2013. In 1983, the first year the movements of foreign-registered vehicles were regis tered, there were 186,000, with 392,000 in 1993 and 1.3 million in 2003.
Dominic Yeardley, MD of Eurovision Logistics, said the support for British hauliers was pleasing but he needed the public to talk to MPs about cheaper fuel. "We should be respected really. It is a tough old industry that is heavily regulated. We are getting the rough end of the deal with foreign vehicles coming here with cheaper fuel and paying scant regard to the regulations. People have accepted that lorries are a necessary evil and are doing a fantastic job."
Karen Dee, director of regional and national policy at 1,I-UK backer the Freight Transport Association, said the public's response was encouraging The industry's achievements in getting successive fuel duty freezes shouldn't be underestimated. "This is a significant success and the government is beginning to understand that you can't take money out of people's pockets if you want to stimulate economic growth," said Dee. • Sample size: 2,002 adults in Great Britain Fieldwork dates: 8 February to 10 February 2013 • Weighting: To be representative of all GB adults Method of data collection: online or self-completion paper survey • The full data is available online at http://bitly/X81JoY SKILLS CRISIS Official data published by CM last year, and revisited in Skills for Logistics' (SfL) own A Looming Driver Shortage? report last May, clearly shows a marked downward turn in the number of people sitting their LGV tests.
Subsequent polls have suggested many older drivers intend to leave the industry come the Driver CPC deadline in September 2014. The wider sector's struggle to compete with other sectors as an employer of choice is generally accepted. The ComRes research reinforces this. Despite the public's generally positive disposition towards haulage, 57% would not encourage their children to take up a career within it (29% of respondents said they didn't know, which is arguably symptomatic of the reality that for many parents it doesn't even occur to them day-to-day). Just 3% agree strongly that they would.
Dr Ross Moloney, director of intelligence and strategy at SfL, said: "Building on our driver shortage report, SfL has been rolling out our local cluster approach whereby we link employers with their local communities. We're working to connect local schools and local businesses so that the truth about our sector can replace some of the outdated stereotypes.
"The Logistics Guild builds on our Professional Development Stairway in a meaningful way. Likewise, SfL has been working with the military to make sure that skilled people make their way into the logistics sector. There is a long way to go, but we believe there are some new green shoots out there." VERY PUBLIC SUPPORT Hard-working hauliers are not as unloved as perhaps the industry is guilty of allowing itself to collectively feel — 53% of those polled agree that truck drivers are 'generally courteous on the road'.
Far from feeling trucks exist only to inconvenience their lives and clog up the road network, 79% of those polled agreed (admittedly, some more strongly than others) that road freight/haulage plays an important role in the currently stuttering UK economy. Support for the importance of haulage in the economy is lowest in London, where it does have 67% of the population looking on it favourably. The highest levels of support are in the South West (85%), Wales (82%) and Yorkshire (82%) Fewer than half those canvassed believe the environmental impact of road freight justifies specific taxation (43%) — suggesting questionable support for the fuel duty escalator introduced by Labour and (in effect) kept by the coalition on the grounds of the environment.