Brit truck drivers Strike, part 2!

Fuel demo adds to road taxes row

Lorry drivers have staged a protest at the rising cost of fuel, at the same time as speculation mounted about a government rethink on road tax.
Hundreds of lorry drivers protested in London and a two-mile line of lorries crawled along the M4 towards Cardiff.
Hauliers say diesel prices topping 120p a litre, plus the planned 2p fuel tax rise, will drive firms "to the wall".
Meanwhile, ministers said Alistair Darling was "listening" to fears over plans to raise vehicle excise duty.
The government is planning to increase road tax on older, more polluting vehicles, and next week the chancellor will meet Labour MPs opposed to the plan.
So far, 42 MPs have signed a Commons motion asking him to reconsider the policy on the grounds that it is retrospective and therefore "unfair" to people who have already bought their cars.
Blockades
While the chancellor cannot control global oil prices, hauliers want an "essential user" duty rebate on fuel of between 20p and 25p a litre to ease competition with foreign haulage companies.
UK'S CHEAPEST & MOST EXPENSIVE FUEL
Cheapest unleaded: 108.9p (Mansfield)
Most expensive unleaded: 126.9p (Newport, Isle of Wight)
Cheapest diesel: 115.9p (Banff)
Most expensive diesel: 140.9p (Isle of Mull)
Latest figures from PetrolPrices.com
Car tax rates guide
In pictures: Fuel protests
'We can't carry on like this'
Mike Greene, leader of the protests in Wales, told the BBC that, unless the government agreed to the rebate within seven days, lorries would blockade refineries and ports.
Peter Carroll, from TransAction 2007 which organised the London protest, said he did not condone blockades, but found it "hard to condemn them", given how much hauliers were suffering.
The BBC's environment analyst, Roger Harrabin, said it was family-run, small and medium-sized firms that were worst hit.
See how UK petrol and diesel prices have risen
He said large companies were able to raise their rates to absorb higher fuel costs and could also more easily pass on the pain of price rises to consumers.
'Real crisis'
Organisers had hoped as many as 1,000 lorries would take part in the protest in London, but Peter Carroll, from TransAction, said the turnout was about 500. Police put the figure at 300.
HAVE YOUR SAY
We have a worldwide reputation for being an expensive country for fuel. No wonder they call us 'treasure island'
Adrian, Chester
Send us your comments
The lorries parked on the eastbound A40 closing the carriageway between the northern roundabout A3220 junction and Paddington from 1000 BST until 1600 BST.
Some drivers also joined a rally in central London before petitioning 10 Downing Street. Mr Carroll said hauliers were being "murdered" by rising costs, and the public's response to their plight had been "enormously positive".
"We feel we couldn't have put on a better or bigger display to show the government this is a real crisis," he said.
"The acid test will now be whether they listen to us."
In Wales, police said about 100 lorries took part in a 60-mile convoy protest from Cross Hands, near Llanelli. Other reports put the figure at about 170.

Convoys have blocked the A40 and disrupted traffic on the M4
They had planned to hand in a petition to the Welsh assembly at the Senedd in Cardiff Bay, but police turned back many vehicles and diverted others to a service station west of the city.
Martin Arthur, who owns a haulage firm in Usk, Monmouthshire, said: "We have to make ourselves heard or people will keep walking all over us.
"People will have to stop working sooner or later because there's no point working for a loss."
Commons Transport Committee chairwoman Louise Ellman said ministers should acknowledge widespread concerns over soaring fuel costs but not be forced into policy decisions by protests.
"Everybody is feeling the impact of the increased cost of living," she said. "That's something the government will have to think about."
LONDON CONVOYS

Trucks from Cowbit, Lincolnshire head to A40 in London via M1, A406 and Hanger Lane Gyratory
Trucks from M2 Medway Services, Kent head to A40 in London via Vauxhall Bridge, Grosvenor Road, Chelsea Embankment, Finborough Road, Warwick Road, Holland Road and West Cross Route (A3220)
Coaches take drivers from parking on A40 to 1130 BST Marble Arch rally
All vehicles supposed to leave A40 by 1530 BSTA Treasury spokesman said the government understood businesses and families were "feeling the pressure from high fuel prices".
But they said the "immediate priority" was to encourage oil-producing countries to increase output, that a 2p-per-litre fuel duty increase had been put back from April to October and fuel duty was "still 11% below its 1999 level in real terms".
The Treasury also defended its plan to increase vehicle excise duty for vehicles registered since 2001 that emit higher levels of pollutants.
Owners of the most polluting cars could face a rise of as much as £200, but a spokesman said the policy was needed to "strengthen the environmental incentive to develop and purchase fuel-efficient cars".
Business Secretary John Hutton told the BBC the chancellor was "listening to what people are saying about vehicle excise duty".
He also said the government wanted UK hauliers to have "a fair deal" and the chancellor would have "to consider how he wants to go forward on this".
Justice Secretary Jack Straw told the BBC he "fully understood" the hauliers' concerns, but "government revenues have to come from somewhere".
He said any decisions made about increased road tax would be made in the autumn statement.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7420792.stm

British Truckdrivers strike?!

There was supposed to be mass chaos and whatnot in the Nanny state as the Truck Drivers all around Britain came to a full stop at entryways and off-ramps on major roads throughout the land. But so far, I've only been able to find briefist of mention on the subject with a Kuwait Newspaper article from two days ago:


Truck drivers in UK to strike soaring fuel prices

Power & Materials 5/26/2008 1:39:00 PM



LONDON, May 26 (KUNA) -- Truck drivers in Britain are to pour into London on Tuesday for what organisers hope will be the largest-ever fuel duty protest in the British capital, it was announced Monday.
Hauliers are angry at soaring fuel prices which have resulted in the average cost of diesel passing far beyond the 120 pence-a-litre mark, the organizers said. Led by lorry drivers from Kent, southern England, the protest is expected to attract hundreds of hauliers from all around the UK. The convoy will make its way to central London, parking close to Marble Arch. Police said a number of roads will be closed in London so that demonstrators can park their lorries. A delegation from the demonstrators will hand a letter to 10 Downing Street demanding the immediate introduction of an essential user rebate which would allow Huge lorries operators to claim some of the fuel duty back. Mike Presneill, a leading member of Transaction 2007, who is helping to organise the protest, said: "Fuel is rocketing. The Government has the power to act but appears not to be listening. Hundreds of UK transport firms are being driven to the wall. Thousands of UK jobs are being lost," he said. Another Kent-based haulier, Peter Knight, said "Foreign hauliers are entering the UK with cheaper fuel purchased abroad. They contribute nothing to our economy." Knight added. "This is the economics of the mad house. If we are wiped out, the work will be done by foreign hauliers who pay nothing to the UK in tax."

Hot Gas?

April 9, 2007 — Consumers are feeling the pain at the pump, as gas prices have risen for nine straight weeks. Now lawsuits around the country claim drivers are being ripped off in a gas gouge they can't even see.

There are at least nine lawsuits pending that claim some gas stations are padding their profits by selling warm gasoline.

That might sound strange, but think back to high school physics. Liquids expand as they get warmer, so if the gasoline at the pump is overheated, you don't get as much in your tank.

Mark Rushing is a long-distance trucker. When he fuels up, every penny counts.

"Fifty-eight gallons of gas cost me $168 dollars," Rushing said.

But he says he often overpays because gas stations don't follow the fuel industry's own standard that gas should be sold at 60 degrees Fahrenheit.

When the temperature outside gets above 60, gasoline at the pump expands, and you get less of it.

Physics professor Michio Kaku demonstrated the concept by heating water in a bottle. As it heated up, it expanded and overflowed. In other words, it took less water to fill the same size container.

"Remember that gasoline expands roughly three times faster than water," Kaku said. "So magnify this effect inside your gas tank."

You pay the same, but you're getting less energy for your car. That's why Rushing and other drivers are suing. They say they're being ripped off because pumps don't account for outdoor temperature changes.

Disagreement Over How Much Fuel Is Lost

It's something most people never even think about.

"I just never thought about it. I put gas in my car and go," said Linda Morton.

An investigation by the Kansas City Star newspaper found that American drivers may overpay $2.3 billion a year, with drivers in warm states like California hit the hardest.

An independent fuel marketers and retailers group argues if any gasoline is lost, the amount is tiny.

"We do not see the information they have gathered as being credible," Jay McKeeman said. "Basically it's about a tablespoon in 12 gallons of gasoline."

But consumer advocates point to chilly Canada, where the pumps are controlled for outside temperature. The industry went along with it there, and cynics say that's because fuel "shrinks" when it's cold, which benefits consumers.

"They fixed it in Canada because they [the industry] were losing money," said trucker Mark Rushing. "How come they won't fix it here?"

There are no laws requiring gas stations in the United States to adjust for hot fuel, so they are not doing anything illegal.

But if you want to avoid "losing" fuel in your tank, fill up overnight or early in the morning before it gets hot.

Or fill up if it's below 60 degrees — you may actually get a little extra fuel for your money.

$38 Billion "woops!"

Computer Tech Accidentally Erases Info on Alaska's $38 Billion Oil Fund

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

JUNEAU, Alaska — Perhaps you know that sinking feeling when a single keystroke accidentally destroy hours of work. Now imagine wiping out a disc drive containing an account worth $38 billion.

A computer technician at the Alaska Department of Revenue deleted applicant information for an oil-funded sales account — one of state residents' biggest perks.

While reformatting the disk drive during a routine maintenance check, the technician mistakenly reformatted the backup drive as well and, suddenly, all the data disappeared.

A third line of defense — backup tapes that are updated nightly — were unreadable.

"Nobody panicked, but we instantly went into planning for the worst-case scenario," said Permanent Fund Dividend Division Director Amy Skow, about the computer foul-up in July that ended up costing the department more than $200,000.

Nine months worth of information concerning the yearly payout from the Alaska Permanent Fund was gone: some 800,000 electronic images that had been painstakingly scanned into the system months earlier, the 2006 paper applications that people had either mailed in or filed over the counter, and supporting documentation such as birth certificates and proof of residence.

The only backup was the paperwork itself — stored in more than 300 cardboard boxes.

"We had to bring that paper back to the scanning room, and send it through again, and quality control it, and then you have to have a way to link that paper to that person's file," said Skow.

Staff working overtime and weekends re-entered the lost data into the system by the end of August.

Last October and November, they met their obligation to the public and a majority of the estimated 600,000 payments for last year's $1,106.96 individual dividends went out on schedule.

Former Revenue Commissioner Bill Corbus said no one was blamed in the incident.

"Everybody felt very bad about it and we all learned a lesson. There was no witch hunt," said Corbus.

According to department staff, they now have a proven and regularly tested backup and restore procedure.