Coach operators have said record diesel prices could force cuts to services including school transport, as hauliers warn rising fuel costs are pushing hundreds of firms out of business.
The average price of diesel on UK forecourts hit a fresh record of more than £۲ a litre last week, as the war in the Middle East continues to disrupt global fuel supplies.
Alison Edwards, the director of policy at the Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT), said the cost of fuel had “surged this year to unsustainable levels, pushing coach operators’ already tight margins to breaking point”.
“It is time for urgent action,” she said. “Without intervention, soaring prices will mean difficult decisions on the availability of services, including home-to-school transport, and the viability of businesses.”
Edwards said ۸۵% of independent coach operators are family businesses, and called on the government to provide temporary support with the cost of diesel, adding that the industry “needs help”.
Local bus operators in England have already received help with fuel costs via subsidies to help cover running costs. Coach companies, which say they carry out a similar role, have received no equivalent support.
Richard Smith, the managing director of the Road Haulage Association (RHA), said the haulage sector was under similar strain. “Businesses in our sector operate on slim profit margins, typically about ۲%, so the continuing high fuel costs are a huge challenge for us,” he said.
He said hauliers were now paying an extra £۳۵۰ a week for each truck compared with before the Iran war. “It’s just unsustainable,” he said. “If haulage, coach and van operators can’t pass these costs on, they struggle, and we’ve seen hundreds of transport businesses going bust already this year.”
Hauliers are calling for a pause on planned fuel duty rises, and a rebate to help offset the cost of diesel. The RAC motoring organisation has called for the government to expand its ۵p cut in fuel duty, which has already been extended until the end of the year.
Rhys Hackling, the managing director of Direct Connect Logistics, said the impact on his own business had been “absolutely enormous”.
The company runs ۲۲ lorries out of Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire and Warrington, transporting goods ranging from supermarket products to live events equipment. He said the company was spending much more on fuel compared with last year: “We normally spend about £۵۰,۰۰۰ a month on fuel … it’s now knocking on £۶۵,۰۰۰.”
Many hauliers work on fixed contracts with customers, Hackling said, meaning rising fuel costs squeeze or wipe out their margins entirely. “If these events continue, then it’s going to put a lot of haulage firms out of business,” he said.
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“There’s less confidence in the market, so there are fewer jobs, and that means the work dries up very, very quickly. Somebody somewhere is having to pay for this, whether it’s the haulage firm or whether it’s the consumer.”
In a move offering some hope that fuel prices might ease, leaders of G۷ nations said on Friday that they would release up to ۱۰۰m barrels of their emergency diesel and crude oil stockpiles.
The announcement was partly in response to Donald Trump suggesting he might introduce a ban on diesel exports after the rise in sales to overseas buyers pushed US prices to record highs.
It appears to have averted the threat, which could have pushed diesel prices even higher in the UK, since Britain relies on the US for about a third of its diesel imports and does not refine enough to meet demand on its own.
The benchmark Brent crude oil price declined by nearly ۱% on Monday to just over $۱۰۱ a barrel.
The transport minister, Keir Mather, has said the UK’s fuel supply is “inherently resilient” and that people “shouldn’t be concerned about shortages”.
