Midlands haulage firms in fuel price crisis

Profits at haulage firms across the region are being squeezed to next to nothing by rising diesel prices, the Express & Star can reveal today.

Filling up a 40-ton articulated lorry – at 144.7p per litre – has soared to over £700 and bosses today said they are forking out up to £60,000 a month to fuel their fleets.

Year-on-year profits are down as much as seven per cent.

There is huge pressure on Chancellor George Osborne to scrap a planned 3p increase in duty planned for August to bring some relief to businesses and motorists.

RK Transport in Willenhall has suffered a seven per cent drop in profits in the last 12 months. Stan Robinson Group Haulage in Seighford, near Stafford, says profits are being wiped out.

And APC Overnight, which delivers 1.4 million parcels a month from its hub in Essington, near Wolverhampton, is being forced to find an extra £390,000 for fuel every 12 months. Its £3.9m bill is climbing 10 per cent each year.

"Fuel has overtaken wages as our biggest business cost," head of sales Steve Salt said.

Stan Robinson Group Haulage employs 300 workers across four depots in the UK and has 180 vehicles in its fleet.Transport manager Steve Cope said: "Any profit we were making has been non-existent."

RK Transport, based in Willenhall, has a fleet of 35 vehicles and Dave Barlow, sales manager, said the firm pays £20,000 two or three times a month to fill its entire fleet, compared to about £18,500 a year ago.

Lorry firms on the Continent have an unfair advantage because of a huge dif- ference in the price of fuel.

By Richard Woodall