Hundreds of lorry drivers angry at soaring fuel prices are travelling in convoy to protests in central London and along the M4 in Wales. Hauliers say diesel prices topping 120p a litre, plus a planned 2p fuel tax rise, will drive firms "to the wall". Protesters are demanding an "essential user" duty rebate for HGV drivers. It comes as Chancellor Alistair Darling prepares to meet Labour MPs concerned about plans to increase road tax on older, more polluting vehicles. Forty-two MPs have signed a Commons motion asking the government to reconsider.
Amid horn beeps, convoys of lorries from the M2 in Kent and other sites around the UK are making their way to London.
Motorists have been warned to expect major delays. The eastbound A40 was due to be closed from 1000 to 1600BST between the northern roundabout A3220 junction and Paddington as lorry drivers left their vehicles to head to 10 Downing Street to hand in a petition. In Wales, about 100 drivers began a 60-mile convoy protest from Cross Hands, near Llanelli. They had been due to hand in a petition to the Senedd in Cardiff Bay but instead were heading to a service station west of the city to hand it to Conservative Welsh Assembly members. HAVE YOUR SAY
We have a worldwide reputation for being an expensive country for fuel. No wonder they call us 'treasure island' Adrian, Chester
The convoy was delayed by police issuing public order notices to drivers instructing them to drive at at least 40mph, depending on conditions, and to keep to the inside lane of the motorway. Mike Presneill, of protest group Transaction 2007, said: "Fuel is rocketing. The government has the power to act but appears not to be listening. Hundreds of UK transport firms are being driven to the wall." Haulage company boss Peter Carroll, another of the protest organisers, told BBC News: "The main thing we're hoping to achieve is to get the government to recognise that this isn't a problem, or even a big problem, it's an absolute crisis."
Aerial footage of the protest With each lorry now costing £1,000 per week in fuel and bills up £40,000 a month at his firm since last October, he said hundreds of UK companies would go out of business if nothing was done and they would be replaced by continental hauliers using cheaper fuel from abroad. He said drivers recognised the government could not control global oil prices but said an "essential user" duty rebate of between 20p and 25p per litre for lorries would help firms compete on a "level playing field" with foreign hauliers. Mr Carroll said a similar rebate scheme was already operating in the UK for bus companies. He added: "If they do that, we keep in business, we continue to pay our taxes and play our part in UK business and also the government wins because we take some of the inflationary pressure out of the economy.
"Because all the time that our fuel is going up, we're trying to push those costs onto our customers, who in turn try to push it onto members of the general public." The government is coming under mounting pressure over fuel prices and its plans to increase road tax for vehicles registered since 2001 which emit higher levels of pollutants. Owners of the most polluting cars could face a tax rise of as much as £200 - a move which the Conservatives say will hit poorer drivers hardest. Some Labour MPs have signed a motion calling on the Treasury to think again about the retrospective aspects of the policy that they say is "unfair" to people who have already bought their cars. One Labour MP says the government risks alienating "Mondeo man" - the name given in the past to middle-income voters Labour needed to woo if it wanted to defeat the Conservatives. Environment minister Joan Ruddock has said the government "could not lose sight of the environment agenda", but Business Secretary John Hutton told the BBC the chancellor was "listening to what people are saying about vehicle excise duty". "We are trying to get this balance right between encouraging choices to go green but not hammering people," he said. His comments came ahead of his speech about alternative power sources at the British Atlantic Survey meeting in Cambridge later on Tuesday.
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