Latest Industry news – Page 174
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Fuel duty frozen again in the Budget
Fuel duty has been frozen for a fifth year in a row in today’s Budget.The chancellor George Osborne confirmed the news earlier, meaning that following a 1ppl cut in 2011 fuel duty has now been frozen for each successive year since.Following the autumn statement late last year, it looked like ...
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Goodyear Fuelmax tyres come up trumps in Mercedes-Benz Efficiency Run
Goodyear has reported that its rolling-resistance-optimised Fuelmax tyres helped reduce fuel use by 14% on those trucks taking part in the Mercedes-Benz Efficiency Run 2015.The Efficiency Run was designed by Mercedes-Benz to show how fuel consumption and CO2 emissions can be significantly reduced by focusing on the performance of the ...
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FairFuelUK warns chancellor over fuel duty increase
FairFuelUK (FFUK) has warned chancellor George Osborne that ending the five-year freeze on fuel duty in the Budget this Wednesday (16 March) would slow down UK economic growth.The campaign group fears that fuel duty is seen as a soft target for additional tax revenue by the chancellor who is faced ...
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CM editor saddles up for Transaid Cycle South Africa
Will Shiers, editor of MT’s sister magazine Commercial Motor, has agreed to change his lifestyle and ignore his prejudices for one year, having reluctantly signed up for Transaid’s Cycle South Africa 2017.Shiers, who said that his longest bike ride to date was a 2-mile round-trip to the local pub, will ...
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UK's pallet networks deliver another year of growth
The continuing rise in internet shopping and an increase in the carriage of hi-tech and high-value goods helped members of the Association of Pallet Networks (APN) deliver a strong performance in 2015.The eight members delivered a total of 22.4 million pallets in 2015, up more than 8% on 2014's volume. ...
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Moving Calais camp could lead to migrant 'free-for-all'
Moving the ‘Jungle’ camp in Calais to UK soil in the event of the UK leaving the EU would simply encourage more migrants to attempt to reach Britain by any means and could lead to a "free-for-all", the FTA has warned.Speaking after a warning from French economy minister Emmanuel Macron ...
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DfT considers scheme to retrain military leavers to plug driver skills gap
The government is looking at funding HGV driver training for those leaving the military to help alleviate the skills shortage.According to transport minister Lord Ahmed, speaking at the Transport Committee hearing into the haulage industry’s skills shortage, the government has a key role to play in removing any barriers to ...
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Motor Transport Podcast: Brexit Special
The Motor Transport team considers what impact the UK coming out of the EU might have on road transport in a special edition of the Motor Transport Podcast.The Motor Transport Podcast: Brexit Special is now live on iTunes and Soundcloud, and discusses what areas of the road transport industry are ...
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Registration now open for fifth Clocs progress event
TfL is inviting operators to head to London’s Excel for the fifth Clocs progress exhibition taking place on 23 March.This free one-day event will run from 10am to 3pm and will feature the latest safer vehicles on offer from leading manufacturers that provide improved driver visibility, which have been developed ...
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Government rules out HGV driver training fund
The government has ruled out funding HGV licence acquisitions to ease the current driver shortage in the UK, according to DfT minister Lord Ahmed.Speaking at the third and final evidence session for the Transport Committee’s Road haulage sector: Skills and workforce planning inquiry, Lord Ahmed told the committee: “The principle ...
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Green Party says rush hour HGV ban "is not that simple"
Declaring a blanket ban on HGVs in London’s rush hours is too simplistic, according to the Green Party’s Mayor of London candidate Siân Berry. Berry said she agreed with the Liberal Democrats’ candidate, Caroline Pidgeon’s, move to reduce HGV traffic in the city’s busiest hours, but that “it’s not as ...
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Motor Transport Podcast: Overview of the Commercial Vehicle Industry report special
In this special edition of the Motor Transport Podcast, managing editor Chris Walton and news editor Chris Druce discuss the state of the UK road transport nation! Join Walton and Druce as they pick out some of their highlights from our free Overview of the Commercial Vehicle Industry report, supported ...
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Amazon to open new fulfilment centre in Coalville this autumn
Online retailer Amazon has announced it will open a 304,800m² fulfilment centre in Coalville, Leicestershire later this year. The site, which it said would create 500 new permanent jobs over three years, should begin operating this autumn.“Amazon has a dedicated and enthusiastic workforce who play a crucial role in delivering ...
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Pidgeon backs London mayor's call for retrofitting side panel windows
Liberal Democrat London mayoral candidate Caroline Pidgeon has pledged to continue Boris Johnson’s push for mandatory retrofitting of additional passenger-side windows in HGVs operating in the capital. She also called for more safety training for drivers to protect "vulnerable road users", as she launched her campaign for a rush-hour HGV ...
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FTA accuses London Assembly of "not thinking" after call for cut in van traffic
The FTA has accused the London Assembly of “not thinking things through” after its Transport Committee called for a cut in LCV traffic in the capital, just months after it demanded a ban on HGV traffic in the rush hour. In a letter to TfL transport commissioner Mike Brown, signed ...
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Forth Road Bridge to reopen to all traffic
The Forth Road Bridge will reopen to all vehicles at 11pm this Saturday (20 February) after being closed to HGV traffic for more than two months. The bridge was closed on 4 December when a crack in its steelwork was discovered, but reopened to all traffic except HGVs on 23 ...
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Stagecoach director to replace Beverly Bell as CILT president
Stagecoach director Will Whitehorn will take over senior traffic commissioner Beverly Bell as the president of the CILT later this year. Whitehorn, who’s background is in aviation, will assume the role at on 20 May, after serving the institute as vice-president for four years.Outgoing president Bell said: “I am delighted ...
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DVSA reaches interim agreement with unions
An interim agreement has been reached between the DVSA and unions Prospect and the PCS in their long-running dispute over terms and conditions for staff at the government agency.The agreement, which follows almost two months of talks at conciliation body Acas, provides for further negotiations between the DfT, the DVSA ...
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FTA and RHA welcome plan to dismantle part of Calais camp
The FTA has welcomed plans by the French authorities to dismantle a substantial part of the migrant camp in Calais in the next few days.However, the FTA conceded that moving the whole camp to a different location much further away from the port and Eurotunnel terminal, as it has previously ...
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Free Bridgestone app available for HGV wheel nut torque settings
Bridgestone has developed a free app giving the correct torque settings for a wide range of commercial vehicle wheel nuts.Based on more than 10 years of data gathering from, truck and trailer manufacturers the Retorque app will offer the correct torque settings on all vehicles, free of charge to any ...