UK ‘braced for fuel strike action’
THE UK could be set to experience strike action following the VAT increase and the new year fuel duty rise, a Yorkshire fuel card reseller has warned.
Knaresborough-based The Fuelcard Company says the combined rises will add a further 3.5p to the cost of a litre of petrol and diesel and that UK petrol car owners are now spending a combined total of £10m a day more on fuel than a year ago.
The company said that diesel currently costs 128.35ppl on average – just five pence below its record high of July 2008.
The Fuelcard Company is warning that the rises will bring more financial misery to the UK’s already hard-pressed fleet industry, as the International Energy Agency is predicting that demand for oil will rise of the next few months, partly due to the cold weather.
City analysts believe the price will top $100 a barrel within months and organisers of the fuel strikes in 2000 have warned similar protest action could be on the cards in 2011, the company said.
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Jakes de Kock, The Fuelcard Company’s marketing director, said: “The fleet industry simply can’t sustain such massive increases to the day to day running of their businesses.
“Fleet managers feel let down by a Government who pledged a fuel stabiliser scheme to protect them by reducing tax if oil prices rose sharply, which has failed to materialise. They feel it’s time they take action into their own hands.”
The Fuelcard Company is urging the Government to reconsider its introduction of additional fuel duty and identify ways to assist the UK’s fleet industry.
The company introduced a petition calling on the Government to lower fuel tax or freeze it at its current level. Results of the petition will be presented to Government this year.
The September 2000 fuel protests saw fuel refineries and distribution depots blockaded, creating a fuel crisis that paralysed the UK’s critical infrastructure.
The financial impact of the week-long fuel drought was estimated at £1bn.
To sign up to the petition visit www.fuelcardroadshow.co.uk
