More than 470 operators have signed an RHA open letter to the Chancellor calling for fuel duty relief as costs soar.
Hundreds of transport operators have signed an RHA open letter to the Chancellor calling for fuel duty relief as costs soar.
The RHA is also calling for the government to back essential fuel users with a targeted Essential User Rebate to protect the essential supply chains, following actions by other countries including Spain, France and Italy where measures have been introduced to support the transport sector.
The association is arguing that there is significant precedent for the Treasury to introduce an essential user rebate, with the Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) mechanism offering a rebate for bus operators and the Rural Fuel Duty Relief scheme which supported rural motorists.
The RHA also wants fair payment terms (30 days) to support cashflow across the sector.
The letter to the Chancellor states: ‘On behalf of HGV, coach and van operators, alongside all other road users and the entire UK economy, we ask you to end the planned increases in fuel duty scheduled to start in September 2026.
‘A 5p cut was introduced in 2022 as a result of international conflicts sending fuel prices soaring. We are now in the same situation four years later, and it is the wrong time to reverse those cuts now.
‘Higher prices for fuel drives up prices for everyday consumers and pushes businesses and employers to the brink. We cannot afford another inflation crisis caused by the cost of fuel.’
Richard Smith, RHA managing director, said: ‘We need the Chancellor to act now. Commercial vehicles move around 80% of Britain’s goods and generate more than a third of fuel duty revenues. Yet they are being hit hardest by rising fuel costs.
‘These increases are inflationary, pushing up the cost of everything from food to construction.
‘That’s why we’re calling on the government to scrap planned fuel duty rises and introduce an essential user rebate for haulage, coach and van operators to keep costs down.
‘Other countries already back their transport sectors in this way. It’s time the UK did the same.”
