Fuel pricing - Ask your MP to take action

With record high diesel prices and cost pressures facing road transport businesses, we are asking you to write to your MP using our template email to urge them to take urgent action to support hauliers and coach operators at this difficult time.

Please use this link to write to your MP. You can also send the link to other colleagues. The more people who write to MPs, the more likely action will be taken.

Simply enter your postcode and details and this creates a template email to edit. We suggest adding in a couple of sentences that detail your company’s own experience – this personalisation will make your email far more powerful.

When you are ready to submit, click send and your email will go direct to your MP’s office.

Fuel prices

The news comes as Brent crude is now quickly moving towards the all-time high prices seen almost a decade ago with, at the time of writing, prices reaching upwards to $140 a barrel.

We believe this could mean that the cost of prices at the pump may potential hit 175ppl – or even 178ppl within a fortnight, if not sooner, without a significant change in direction resulting from the current global news situation.

Budget 2022

In response, the RHA is lobbying the government for 2 things:

Firstly, action should be taken to back hauliers and keep consumer prices under control by introducing an essential user rebate of 15p per litre. This step would mirror an approach taken by many other European nations including Spain, France, Italy, Belgium, Hungary, Ireland and more.

We are also urging Treasury to delay the planned removal of rebates for red diesel on 1 April by 12 months. Introducing this change in a few weeks would be devastating for hauliers who have seen their wider operating costs increase by 17% for an HGV in the past year combined with the 18% increase in drivers’ wages.

Our formal submission to HM Treasury highlighted the many financial constraints faced by our members and we have also raised these points with the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, Helen Whately MP.

We are in contact with Treasury officials to ensure the impact of these rising cost pressures is heard at the highest levels and we have held meetings with several MPs to highlight the effect of costs including the Parliamentary Private Secretary to HM Treasury, Craig Williams MP, and the Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons, Nigel Evans MP.