Logistics UK repeats call for cut in fuel duty to ease “unprecedented pressure” on hauliers

Logistics UK wants an immediate 6p per litre cut in fuel duty and said it would save hauliers £2,424 per 44-tonne truck, per year.

The business group also said that one solution to rising prices could be the introduction of a system, similar to that used in Portugal, where the rate of duty is reduced weekly if there is an increase in VAT revenue on fuel sales.

It said the knock-on effect of sustained prices would be increased costs for consumers and businesses: “With forecourt diesel prices increasing by 34% since the start of the year, the cost of delivering for UK PLC has risen significantly in that period,” said its policy director Kate Jennings.

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“This ongoing inflation is placing an unsustainable burden on logistics businesses which operate on very narrow margins and so cannot absorb increased costs at this scale.”

She said haulage firms were already paying duty at a rate which is 63.5% higher than the EU average and “unprecedented pressure” was being heaped on businesses that the country was relying on to keep it supplied with goods.

Referring to the Portuguese system, Jennings added: “By introducing a dynamic, price-related taxation mechanism, the government can ensure that fuel duty doesn’t add to the inflationary pressures faced by consumers and business.”