Oil now over $100 a barrel

Posted on by Anthony Marriage
Motorists are likely to be further hit in the near future as oil prices have soared to over $100 a barrel – the first time since the 2008 recession. Brent North Sea crude for for one month delivery fell 56 cents to $100.46 a barrel, after spiking to $101.73 on Monday.
Jay Levine, a broker at Enerjay in Portland, Maine, said: “Escalating tensions in the Middle East are contributing to buy-first-ask-questions-later ‘panic-buying’.” Seven days of protests aimed at ending Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year-old rule culminated today in a “march of a million” in Alexandria. 100 people have been killed since protests began seven days ago.
The Suez Canal, the key passageway for Europe’s crude oil, has yet to be affected by the protests but has induced panic trading – bumping the price of oil to over $100.
David Cameron, however, has hinted that a fair fuel stabiliser might be put into effect in the future. He said, “we are trying to have a system where, when the oil price goes up, we share the difficulty of that with the motorist. That’s fair.”

Saving the bacon

Posted on by Anthony Marriage

These little piggies almost made it back to the farm when their truck overturned in Springfield, Iowa. It has been reported that the accident was caused by the driver steering to sharply around a bend in the road.

The result was pig pandemonium as fifty pigs managed to sneak out of the upturned lorry. Highway Patrol Sgt. Rick Fletcher said, “they just kind of wandered around in the roadway; obviously they go every which way but the way we wanted them go.” Luckily the driver of the lorry was wearing a seatbelt at the time and walked away unharmed.

The great escape

Posted on by Anthony Marriage
Matthew Krizsan of Ontario, Canada, managed to avoid near death as a oncoming lorry jack-knifed through the motorway barrier. Talking to CTC Toronto, he said, “everything seemed to slow down and I think all those years playing video games as a kid paid-off.”

Not only did Matthew manage to expertly maneuvre out of harm’s way but he even filmed the unbelievable event with a dashboard mounted camera! The video below shows how the truck ploughed through the barrier, missing a fatal accident by mere inches due to Matthew’s quick reflexes.

48-year-old lorry driver, Bahadar Bassi, has since been charged with careless driving.


Haul together

Posted on by Anthony Marriage
The government has been blasted by Haulage chiefs who have claimed ministers do not have truckers interests at heart and are not concerned over looming job losses.
Chief executive of the Road Haulage Association, Geoff Dunning voiced concerns that the Coalition has turned a deaf ear to the issues facing the transport industry.

He went on say, “the price of petrol is so high that our members are having real problems passing the cost on. They can only run like that for a while before trying to recoup the cost – or they’ll go bust.

“Our problem is the Government couldn’t care less – I’m beginning to think they don’t care how many people lose their jobs.”
With diesel at a current average of £132.2p at the pump, of which 61% is taxed, the UK transport industry faces increasing competition from European operators making return trips to the continent.
Mr Dunning said he feared fuel prices would soar to 150p later this year.
Over 100,000 people have signed The Sun’s “Keep it down” petition; you can sign The Sun’s petition to freeze fuel duty here:

Red in the face

Posted on by Anthony Marriage
Much like the Routemaster bus or the red telephone box a British design classic could go the way of the dodo.The iconic design of Royal Mail pillar boxes could soon be at the mercy of a foreign buyer. The digital age has made the sending of letters increasingly redundant and certainly less profitable, resulting in the Royal Mail’s current downward spiral. New owners would be at liberty to change the boxes as they see fit. This could entail a complete make-over from the world famous red paint to the Royal “ER” crest. One potential owner of the Royal Mail is the Deutsche Post, which leaves the unsavoury possibility of yellow, German style mailboxes.


Nia Griffith, Labour Party’s business spokeswoman, said: “The postboxes are much-cherished national icons but there is nothing to stop a new owner painting them yellow or plastering them with advertising. It’s disgraceful.”

A Royal Mail spokeswoman said: ‘We cherish our red postboxes. We are absolutely committed to ensuring that they remain a distinctive part of communities throughout the UK.’

The first of Britain’s 115000 pillar boxes appeared just over 150 years ago


Beware of the pint sized dog

Posted on by Anthony Marriage
If you ever find yourself in Dorset Gardens, Northampton, keep an eye on the ground. Believe it or not, Peggy, a Yorkshire Terrier who stands at just 8 inches tall has struck fear into the hearts of postmen in the local area.



Her owner said that like many dogs, Peggy will run after the morning postman and “give a little nip.” The postman who normally delivers in the area has reportedly been bitten three times. As a result the Royal Mail have suspended all post to the street, forcing residents to travel up 14 miles to their nearest Post Office.

One nearby resident said the dog was ‘vicious’ while another comically said: ‘She looks cute but she’s got that glint of evil in her eye.’

The Sun’s “Keep It Down” Petition

Posted on by Anthony Marriage

The campaign to freeze fuel duty hopes to put pressure on chancellor George Osborne after The Sun discovered that Britons were paying £12 million more to fill up than a year ago. Fuel price increases have hit both the public and the haulage industry alike.

The paper is calling on Chancellor George Osborne to freeze fuel rates come April 1 or honour his pre-election pledge for a fuel stabiliser .

The petition reads, “we call on the Government to honour its pre-election pledge to give motorists a break by either freezing fuel duty or bringing in a fuel stabiliser”

The petition already has the backing of celebrities from Jay Kay of Jamiroquai to Jeremy Clarkson. Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson said: “In a country like ours you need to have a road system that works – and it can’t work if fuel is over £6 a gallon.”

Fuel duty has risen over six times since 2008 and with oil prices climbing towards $100 a barrel this could easily increase.

You can sign the The Sun’s petition here:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article3347898.ece

Blockade could polarise support

Posted on by Anthony Marriage

Militant truck drivers have been warned that direct action protesting presents the risk of alienating broader support from mainstream road haulage associations and organisations.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/emp/external/player.swf

FairFuelUK is the newly created organisation spearheading the campaign to stop the next fuel duty planned for April. Peter Carroll, leader of FairFuelUK, stated on Monday, “I aim to hold mass rallies of vehicles in the coming weeks as we run up to the budget so that the government is in no doubt about the depth of this crisis.”

The Freight Transport Association has stated that it would lend its support to the cause, so long as Carroll and his supporters rejected direct action as a solution. Liam Northfield of the FTA said, “We are opposed to that kind of thing…Our organisation is about keeping freight moving not bringing it to a halt and we are convinced that blockades are counter-productive because it endangers public support.”