Major haulier casualty of credit crunch/fuel costs

[gadgetman]

BBC NEWS | England | West Yorkshire | Jobs blow as haulage firm crashes

If such a big firm is finding things tough, then we all should be paying right now.

Then there's jobs related to the firm (stationary supplies, cleaners, etc etc)

[yashicamat]

Not good.

Incidentally, I really wish the media would stop using the punny catchphrase "they are being driven out of business".

[smstext]

there you go gordon brown, fuel tax has gone too far.

[Vix]

Bloody hell, wouldn't have imagined they were struggling.

[vRSLen]

Just around the corner from where I work!

[Octygone]

Originally Posted by smstext

there you go gordon brown, fuel tax has gone too far.

Fuel tax hasn't gone up ....the price of crude oil has doubled.......there will be a lot more going out of business over the next year...

[matt@theforce]

it's just a fact of life, Cost of Living increases every year yet most of our earnings don't go up unless you strike or move jobs.

Soon supermarkets will have no choice but to put the cost of food/drink up to cover their own transportation costs and all those poor people who have allready lost their jobs due to increasing fuel costs will be struggling even more.

[daiking]

I don't think its as simple as that.

From the story it was in administration in 2006 and 'rescued' by a local businessman. Without knowing the full facts it can't be proved but that would suggest that the business was not in great shape anyway and fuel costs were the straw that broke the camel's back.

How a successful haulier operates?

Stobart factors in fuel escalator - 26/06/2008 - RoadTransport.com

Putting a fuel escalator into customer contracts

[smstext]

Originally Posted by Octygone

Fuel tax hasn't gone up ....the price of crude oil has doubled.......there will be a lot more going out of business over the next year...

it went up in the last budget when he was warned about the fuel costs and its still going to go up in october and whilist the price of crude has gone up (of which the vat rate on fuel then pays more to the treasury) they still feel the need to fleece the motorist with more extra tax on fuel which adds extra tax with vat added to the 2-3p rise.

[KLM]

Indeed, Stobart seems to have a very good business model and would appear to be going from strength to stength.

[slider]

Originally Posted by KLM

Indeed, Stobart seems to have a very good business model and would appear to be going from strength to stength.

Yea but problem is can the next guy in the chain cope with this as he may not be in the position of putting a fuel escalator in his contract. As you get down the
supply chain and closer to core production it is often difficult to past on costs

[Dr Zoidberg]

Originally Posted by smstext

it went up in the last budget when he was warned about the fuel costs and its still going to go up in october and whilist the price of crude has gone up (of which the vat rate on fuel then pays more to the treasury) they still feel the need to fleece the motorist with more extra tax on fuel which adds extra tax with vat added to the 2-3p rise.

Only by 2p which was a rise of duty in line with inflation , and I guarantee the 2p planned for september won't happen.

The rest is all down to the price of oil.

[cheezemonkhai]

To be fair, the lorry drivers were not complaining when plain economics made them cheaper than rail freight causing rail freight to fail and good to move to the road.

Now they will have to compete again with alternatives such as rail.

Personally I'd actually rather see rail links taking ISO containers from the docks to distribution points around the country and then having the containers delivered by lorry for the last few (up to 50) miles. This would reduce the lorries on the motorway and be far more sustainable as overall it would use much less fuel per container. It would also create jobs at the distribution points to counteract any lost in the transport industry.

FWIW I think lorries should pay a vignette type system to use the UK motorway system and maybe give UK companies a rebate on this. That would in one easy go deal with drivers coming over with cheap tax etc from the continent and works in other countries.

[Shifty]

Originally Posted by cheezemonkhai

FWIW I think lorries should pay a vignette type system to use the UK motorway system and maybe give UK companies a rebate on this. That would in one easy go deal with drivers coming over with cheap tax etc from the continent and works in other countries.

Agreed, every single Uk Haulier would also agree with this. We have to pay tolls when abroad, yet they come here on cheaper fuel, stay for weeks doing Uk - Uk haulage at cut price costs, we can't compete. Something that needed to be addressed years ago along with immigration. Too late now.

Oh, and your container idea would already be in practise if it was practical. In a way, it already is, but we in the UK consume so much stuff, and we want it so quickly, that containers do not offer the same convenience a truck does. Stobart/Tesco already has several huge RFT's yet still has a VERY large fleet of trucks.

[Captain Sisko]

Reading from that site other hauliers have gone up the spout.
Fuel costs have been rising for years

[cheezemonkhai]

Originally Posted by Shifty

Agreed, every single Uk Haulier would also agree with this. We have to pay tolls when abroad, yet they come here on cheaper fuel, stay for weeks doing Uk - Uk haulage at cut price costs, we can't compete. Something that needed to be addressed years ago along with immigration. Too late now.

Oh, and your container idea would already be in practise if it was practical. In a way, it already is, but we in the UK consume so much stuff, and we want it so quickly, that containers do not offer the same convenience a truck does. Stobart/Tesco already has several huge RFT's yet still has a VERY large fleet of trucks.

Thanks, that's quite interesting as I didn't know tesco used rail freight

[gadgetman]

Originally Posted by cheezemonkhai

FWIW I think lorries should pay a vignette type system to use the UK motorway system and maybe give UK companies a rebate on this. That would in one easy go deal with drivers coming over with cheap tax etc from the continent and works in other countries.

Brown & Blair have been lobbied to have a system like Austria for non domestic vehicles to stop foriegners transporting goods and undercutting UK firms, as well as to stem the growing number of untraceable cars here.

My thoughts are each vehicle must buy a road permit. The more visit, the more that's paid toward road upkeep, and the less attractive to truckers undercutting UK firms.

[skorob2007]

Why are we the only European country paying more for diesel than petrol, when in the rest of Europe, diesel is between 10 and 20p a litre cheaper than petrol at least?
Surely if we lower the duty on a litre of diesel to make it less than the cost of a litre of petrol, that would keep the costs of all neccessities like food cheaper as it wouldnt cost as much to transport it and haulage firms would have a better chance of survival.

[ncarring]

Dr Beeching axed all the uneconomic rail lines, but perhaps without realising the energy efficiency that was being axed at the same time. When your local station was only 5 miles away, the rail network could deliver anything, via a combination of rail, and their own delivery van (remember BRS?, and of course the private railway vans before them).

I remember hearing years ago that one of Stobart's major cargoes was empty beer cans (on their way to the brewery). How can transporting those by road be logical? (sigh)

[gadgetman]

The UK has been ripping the people of for years to help fulfill its finacial obligations on rebuilding europe after ww2.

Only finish paying a few years back for ww2.