Firstly, on behalf of Quentin and myself, we hope you are keeping healthy and safe.
In this stressful time for every one of us, it is right we thank and applaud our NHS workers. They are indeed, truly risking their own health every day to make sure the rest of us are safe and recover from this hideous virus.
But there is a group of indispensable workers who are being taken too much for granted. And sadly, many of these businesses will go under during and beyond this crisis, unless the Government helps them to survive. That is why we need your support to convince the Government to help, and to help now!
When you relax at home with your gardening or DIY project, to cook a meal or paint a bedroom, remember everything you use or consume came on a truck or in a van. In fact, I am sure that during this mandatory lockdown, you will have had several items delivered to your home.
But shockingly, nearly half the UK haulage industry is now parked up, according to the RHA (Road Haulage Association). Their survey found that 46 percent of the UK’s truck fleet is not operating, and 25 percent of drivers are furloughed.
This haulage and logistics industry is in a catastrophic position.
Road hauliers and those delivery vans are designated key workers that are keeping the economy moving in these exceptional times. They are keeping the nation fed by keeping shops stocked and making sure that the thousands of front-line medical staff are delivered with the PPE and medical supplies they so desperately need.
You may not be aware; the average haulier is lucky if they make 1 to 2 percent margin and most will have no more than 2 to 3 weeks of operating cost readily available to them.
The current financial support measures are not working. Loans are inaccessible and do not provide the immediate support operators need. With such low profit margins, it is also inconceivable that operators will ever be able to repay them. Staff retention measures are inflexible, do not allow for immediate rehiring should demand dictate, and like loans and other support measures, are not available quickly enough.
Transport businesses need urgent cash injections in the form of grants, not loans, in order to maintain cashflow and survive.
So that is why it is so important you email your MP to ask them to write to the Chancellor to inject immediate financial relief into these businesses over and above the measures already announced.
Without a realistic road vehicle delivery specific financial package of measures from the Treasury, hundreds of transport businesses will be closed within a matter of weeks because they cannot sustain this widespread drop-in volume.
The RHA is one of FairFuelUK’s major founding backers and has been instrumental in getting fuel duty frozen for 10 years. Therefore, it is vital we support their efforts in convincing the Government to support their members struggling to survive in the time of CoVid-19. We have made it easy for you to email your MP. Here is how to do it. Please go to this link. It will take you just 3 minutes to get your MP on board. https://fairfueluk.eaction.org.uk/logistics