The following cut and past is from our trade association website www.bifa.org . Almost everything you buy has to come back truck at some point, and all of us use fuel. 

Please sign the E petition 



http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/347 

Quote:

One of the headline grabbing announcements made by the Chancellor, Mr George Osborne in his 2011 Budget statement was that Fuel Duty was to be reduced by 1 penny a litre. This small sum was seen as a step in the right direction, the largely overlooked bad news is that two Fuel Duty Rate increases are planned for 2012, the first in January, the second in April deferred to August.  Currently Fuel Duty is 57.75 pence per litre, during 2012; the duty rate will rise by 10.4%. On the 1st January the duty rate will increase by 3.02 to 60.97 pence per litre. In August there will be a second increase in line with the Retail Price Index which will add between 2.19 and 3.03 pence per litre to the cost of a litre of diesel.  The inescapable fact is that in order to deliver the customers goods: road plays an important part in supply chain. Much is made of increase rail and short sea usage, but these modes often require road to make the final delivery. Based on industry figures, a typical 44 tonne truck and trailer averages 7.5 miles per gallon and covers 70,000 miles a year. In total this typical truck will use 42,439 litres of diesel in the course of the year.  UK fuel prices rose by 15% between October 2010 and the same month in 2011, and fuel now equates to between 30-45% of the vehicles operating cost. The simplest way to understand the situation is that for every penny increase the truck costs an additional £424 per annum to operate. The anticipated 6 pence per litre will increase costs by £2544 per annum or £48.92 per week. These increases are particularly unfair because the Governments VAT yield increases when prices rise.