Cost to fuel a lorry is up £20,000 a year, says haulage boss

Soaring fuel prices have put the haulage industry in crisis with the cost of running one lorry up £20,000 on last year, a freight boss has said.

Lesley O'Brien, director of Freight Link Europe, said hauliers should get a fuel tax rebate so they could pass the savings on to customers.

It comes after the RAC warned the price of petrol could soon hit 180p a litre and diesel 190p.

The motoring group called for "radical government intervention urgently".

The average cost of a litre of petrol reached a record 177.9p on Sunday, up from 173.02p on 30 May. Over the same period average diesel prices rose from 182.58p a litre to 185.01p.

Motorists have been hit by record pump prices since Russia's invasion of Ukraine led to an increase in the cost of oil because of supply fears.

In March, the government cut fuel duty by 5p a litre. It said this would save a car driver on average £100 a year, a van driver £200 and hauliers £1,500.

Ms O'Brien told the BBC's Today programme: "This certainly is a crisis as we've seen fuel prices escalate over the last year by 50% and no sight of a stop, so we absolutely as an industry need to keep on top of this.

"As a country we need to understand we need to support our transport industry which is the infrastructure of the whole economy," she said.

She explained that her company added a fuel surcharge to its bills, to cover fluctuating prices.

"But never before has it been so high," she said. "As an example, to run one of my artic vehicles is now costing me £20,000 more per year than in did last year."

She pointed out that the Road Haulage Association (RHA) had been lobbying government for a rebate on fuel duty "for quite some time now".

The group said that smaller haulage companies did not have fuel surcharges built into their contracts with customers.

Some 35% of fuel costs are duty taxes and the RHA wants the government to return this to "essential users" such as hauliers and coach operators. They could then lower their prices to customers, the RHA said.

Ms O'Brien said: "If we help the haulage industry and we have an essential user rebate we will help everybody because pretty much everything you buy comes on the back of a truck and we will be able to pass that on to the end user."

The spiralling cost of fuel had added to pressures including a driver shortage, subsequently high salaries and an increase in companies' national insurance payments, said Ms O'Brien.

On top of that there was an increase in lorry maintenance costs and a shortage of new lorries and parts due to a global shortage of chips she said.

On Monday, RAC spokesperson Simon Williams, described the latest fuel prices as "frightening".

"More radical government intervention is urgently needed, whether that's in the form of a further reduction in fuel duty or a VAT cut.

"This is fast becoming a national crisis for the country's 32 million car drivers as well as countless businesses."