All Industry News articles – Page 274
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MT ArticleOperators must prove they want extra apprenticeship funding
Skills for Logistics (SfL) has called on operators to make the case to government for a funding boost for apprentices to ensure a pipeline of talent for the future.Following a meeting last week between Matthew Hancock MP, minister for skills at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and ...
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MT ArticleLogistics director calls for super semi-trailers to be part of DfT trial
The European logistics director at Kimberly-Clark believes operators should push the DfT to introduce "super" semi-trailers into in its longer semi-trailer trial.Peter Surtees, European logistics director at Kimberly-Clark, was speaking after the publication of a University of Huddersfield report on high capacity vehicles (HCVs) last week.Impact Assessment: High-Capacity Vehicles, which ...
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MT ArticleNews Extra: Back loads essential to viability of Scottish long haul routes
The rising cost of fuel and improving load-fill are challenges that all UK hauliers are faced with. But for those that run long-distance routes in and out of Scotland, the need to improve vehicle utilisation in a market where freight traditionally flows in to Scotland, with very little exported to ...
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MT ArticleScania's fuel card offers members bulk purchasing benefit
Scania has launched a fuel card based on cooperative principles, allowing operators to benefit from the bulk purchasing discounts usually reserved for the largest players in the sector.The Scania Fuel Card is administered by The Fuelcard People, with Scania buying fuel direct on members' behalf to enhance the purchasing power ...
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MT ArticleOperators invited to submit evidence for Vosa inquiry
Operators have been invited to supply evidence to support an inquiry by the Transport Committee into the work of Vosa.Issues to be covered by the select committee include: what can be done to improve the standards of foreign-registered trucks operating in the UK; how the agency can better support the ...
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MT ArticleGovernment urged to ringfence cash from HGV road user levy
Pressure is mounting on the DfT and Treasury to ringfence the money raised by the HGV Road User Levy for the benefit of the road transport sector.The levy, which could begin in April 2014 if approved by Parliament, and will see operations pay a daily charge of up to a ...
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MT ArticleFairFuelUK gets duty rise message across to Treasury officials
Treasury minister Danny Alexander has pledged to review FairFuelUK’s (FFUK) economic report, which shows that the planned 3ppl duty rise in January will result in 35,000 job losses and reduce GDP growth by 0.1%.During a landmark meeting yesterday (29 October) with FFUK and its major backers the FTA and RHA, ...
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MT ArticleRaising fuel duty will destroy jobs and hinder economic growth
The government’s planned 3ppl fuel duty rise scheduled for January will result in 35,000 job losses and reduce GDP growth by 0.1%, FairFuelUK (FFUK) told the Treasury today (29 October).A detailed report produced for FFUK by the National Institute for Economic and Social Research (NIESR) reveals that as a result ...
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MT ArticleVosa clamping down on illegal drivers without Initial Driver CPC
Vosa is cracking down on LGV drivers who took their test after September 2009 and are driving illegally because they have not acquired their Initial Driver CPC.Drivers who acquired their LGV licence before September 2009 have until September 2014 to get their Driver CPC, by completing 35 hours of periodic ...
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MT ArticleReborn Truckpol gaining momentum but questions remain
The reborn TruckPol intelligence service is gaining momentum and financial backing, according to National Business Crime Forum (NBCF) vice-chairwoman Jean Mountain.Mountain, who chaired a second meeting of the forum, which has resurrected TruckPol, told MT the Business Crime Intelligence Bureau, which works alongside the NBCF, had begun feeding information about ...
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MT ArticleFairFuelUK prepares for face-to-face with the Treasury
FairFuelUK (FFUK) has secured a meeting with chief secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, on Monday (29 October) to discuss the 3ppl duty rise planned for January.The meeting will include senior Treasury officials and RHA chief executive Geoff Dunning, and will focus on the findings of economic research funded by ...
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MT ArticleNews Extra: Demise of the backload?
Backload rates are so bad that some operators are wondering if they’re worth taking.Is the era of backloads coming to an end? It certainly sounds like it for some operators, judging by comments MT has heard recently. The issue, of course, is that the rates being handed out for many ...
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MT ArticleLorry road user charge details revealed
The lorry road user charge is moving closer to fruition, with transport minister Stephen Hammond scheduled to set out the details of the government’s proposed HGV Road User Levy Bill this afternoon (23 October) in a parliamentary debate.Hammond is using a ‘ways and means’ motion to get the bill heard ...
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MT Article"No criminal activity" at Driver CPC centre
After a five-month investigation, the DSA has found “no evidence of criminal activity” after a JAUPT-approved Driver CPC course that lasted less than five hours was logged as seven hours on the DSA database.An undercover reporter working for MT attended the £40 course in Sittingbourne, Kent, in January 2012. After ...
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MT ArticleCo-op confirms 250 job losses in consolidation move
The Co-operative Group has confirmed that a significant number of staff will take redundancy, following its move to consolidate two DCs.Its Wellington, Somerset and Portbury, Bristol DCs will merge into a new £20m regional distribution centre at Avonmouth.A spokeswoman for the grocery retailer told MT: "As planned, as the new ...
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MT ArticleHMRC shuts down two diesel laundering plants
Two diesel laundering plants capable together of producing more than 15 million litres of illicit fuel a year have been discovered and closed in Co Armagh, Northern Ireland.Officers from HMRC and the Police Service of Northern Ireland found one plant hidden in a shed at a private address in Cullyhanna; ...
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MT ArticleCosts expert warns over haulage rates
Some haulage contractors should be charging over four times the rate they are currently being paid, a prominent costs expert has warned.Brian Fish, MD of logistics and transport consultancy DFF International – who compiles the RHA’s annual cost tables and previously ran family haulage firm Joseph Fish & Sons – ...
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MT ArticleFuel price transparency bill makes it to next stage
MPs have backed Robert Halfon's private members bill tabled today (16 October), which calls for the tax take on fuel to be printed on every forecourt receipt.The Conservative MP for Harlow, and founder of the PetrolPromise campaign, is calling for the complete tax breakdown (duty and VAT) to be printed ...
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MT ArticleRHA gets behind Robert Halfon's call for fuel price transparency
The RHA has said that if MPs don't back a private members bill being tabled today (16 October), which calls for the tax take on fuel to be printed on every forecourt receipt, they will need to provide a clear reason why they have vetoed it.Robert Halfon, Conservative MP for ...
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MT ArticleURTU men bailed again
The United Road Transport Union (URTU) men at the centre of a probe into Driver CPC training activities have had their bail extended yet again.The seven men include general secretary Bob Monks, national officer Mel Thornton and regional officers Lee Pimbley and Mike Billingham.They were originally arrested on 15 February ...