How much would people on this newsgroup be prepared to pay for a gallon of fuel?

other industries are not competing dunlop shut up shop and moved to poland , large sections of manufacturing is going to bulgaria (no corperation tax) or china

Or better still protect our own citezens and stop all further immigration from the former soviet block countries like several other eu countries did , they forsaw the problems

We have been importing deflation from China since the early nineties, with Gordon only too willing to take all of the credit by telling us it was all down to his 'Mr Prudent' no boom and bust style of management, seems to me that he got out just the right time, just when it all started to fall apart at the seams, and now the fall guy Darling is having to take most of the flak. Did anyone hear what Paddy Ashdown had to say on Question Time this week?.. In essence he told the audience that as far as cheap energy and travel goes, the party is now over for good.

"steve robinson" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

I think you've just proved my point.

But then you follow up...

with

...yet you don't see the contradiction? Or are you suggesting benefits should be removed, so that the chavs who can't be arsed to do hard work for £7/hr have no choice?

"steve robinson" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Yet UK drivers can't do that?

"steve robinson" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Construction & Use regs aren't online.

However, any changes to them over the last few decades have been based on EU regs - especially for wagons.

It doesn't get any better.

What point that they expect a reasonable wage that they can live on , those so called chavs are living in the uk with the costs that are associated with being a uk resident , many of the polish men working here have thier families back in poland are prepared to accept standards of accomadation that wouldnt have been tolerated in the uk

100 years ago , often you will find 10 or 12 living in one house sharing the costs makes it feasable to live here

correct they probably will however these handouts are paid for by uk taxation of which they have contributed

Totally different senerio one refers to individuals who have in the most part contributed to the uk pot , the other is a nation state that consistantly expects the rest of the world to bail out a failed regime

I am not saying that some of the chavs need a good kick up the arse to motivate them , by the same context they have in one way or another contributed to the uk tax system and as such that sytem makes social payment to those that are not working , that system is for the uk citezens not the whole bloody world

No because vehicles designed , registered or intended for the uk market will not meet our construction and use regulations if it has a belly tank fitted

as i said the playing field is not level

Such as what? Work 60 hours a week for NMW?

Because it requires a different type of operators licence for a start. And then there's insurance etc etc etc. It's not just a case of finding a load then off you go.

Also there's not many drivers who want to be away from home 2-3 weeks at a time as well as having to put up with all the crap that's going on within 4hrs of Calais. Its getting dangerous now.

They choose specific areas to work in where it is "en-route" back to the ferries.

How does Howdens Kitchens with their factory in East Yorkshire and branches all over the UK with their lorries needing refuelling every day manage to nip over to the continent?

"Fuel tourism" is unworkable for 99% of UK haulage.

Great, thanks. So 1 million HGV drivers are faced with national minimum=20 wage or unemployment despite spending over =A32500 getting their licences= =20 and with the average age of HGV drivers being 53, no likelihood of=20 employment ever again just so Joe Public can pay below the real cost of=20 goods?

I can't see how adding 1 million people to the dole queue makes us more=20 efficient.

--=20 Conor

I only please one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow isn't=20 looking good either. - Scott Adams

Sadly someone does - usually as a backload.

No, I said that WE can't do runs on cheap diesel in our area. Nothing to stop Jonny Foreigner.

And carry what? We don't have much manufacturing in the UK in case you've not noticed.

How does that work for say Howdens Kitchens? Fleet of 40 wagons delivering to Howdens Joinery stores all over the UK from the factory in Howden.

PLease tell me as you obviously know more.

Only if they have an international operators licence. How is that viable for a company doing UK only work?

The average age of lorry drivers THREE YEARS AGO was 53. What are they supposed to do?

Sounds reasonable to me. So there's a level playing field there.

The problem seems to be an oversupply of haulage capacity, so prices get pared to the bone and hauliers can't simply charge a working rate. I thought the great shortage of drivers, as advertised all over usenet over the past few years, would fix that, but apparently not.

If there is oversupply, then firms will be going to the wall - it's what happens in other industry.

What proportion of UK haulage is done by UK drivers in UK trucks, foreign drivers in UK trucks, and foreign drivers in foreign trucks?

Once we know that we can make an informed judgement about whether or not the complaints about eg polish drivers and foreign lorries taking trade are actually making a difference.

cheers, clive

Conor gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Semi-retire?

With what?