Hauliers take fuel price plea to PM

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Travelling from many parts of the country, the lorry drivers lined a specially-closed section of the A40.

Many left their cabs to attend a rally at Marble Arch before a delegation handed in a letter at 10 Downing Street urging Prime Minister Gordon Brown to save the haulage industry by reducing the duty on diesel.

As the peaceful protest - involving around 300 lorries - took place, Chancellor Alistair Darling was under mounting pressure to ditch controversial proposals to increase road tax on gas guzzling cars.

And House of Commons Transport Committee chairman Louise Ellman led MPs' calls for something to be done about prices, although she warned that decisions should not be based "on protests from any one sector".

Some of the hauliers set out in the early hours to take their protest to the capital with some coming from as far away as Shropshire.

The first arrived at their appointed position on the A40 in west London.

Kent-based haulier Peter Carroll, who was one of those handing in the Downing Street letter, said the Government was being urged to put the haulage industry into the essential user rebate category, and that 20p-25p should be taken off diesel duty.

Mr Carroll continued: "We hear a lot about the Government wanting to steer the economy through difficult times. Well, one of the biggest ways of steering an economy through difficult times is to cut fuel duty.

"I believe that if Gordon Brown was to pass a drowning man, he would help. To all intents and purposes our industry is a drowning man. I plead with the Government to take note of this industry and to listen. I say to the Government that you have the lifeline. All you have to do is use that lifeline to save a fantastic industry that does good for Britain."