Looming annihilation of the British trucking industry

...... thanks to the big nanny state government, excessive taxation, and the spiteful policies of the European Union, superstate.

Drivers like me are strangled by red tape, says 26-year-old female trucker

But now, with huge Government taxes, ridiculous bureaucracy and mounting red tape destroying life on the road, I'm beginning to think I should have listened to her [ mother ].

Since Christmas, the price of diesel has risen by a third and currently stands at around £1.30 a litre – 25p more expensive than any other European country.

Not only do we have to pay through the nose for diesel but truckers have to buy 'Add Blue' – a liquid that helps to reduce carbon emissions – at 32p a litre.

EU legislation passed last year also means we are restricted to working 45 hours a week. This may benefit some industries but for hauliers, who have to spend a lot of time on the road, it is another nail in the coffin.

To make matters worse, the Government enforces this policy with digital tachographs, which log each journey on a haulage company's computer. Government inspectors then pay random visits to your office to see whether you are complying with the law.

The Department for Transport issues new licences on a weekly basis – a charge for this, another charge for that. Last year, CSL paid out around £30,000 on licences alone.

They're all just stealth taxes – my boss has warned that if it doesn't get any better he'll be forced to close the business.

Gordon Brown claims we are not in a recession but every day CSL receives calls from other companies informing us they are closing down.

...and it will only get worse, as the EU introduce more legislation that will favour foreign hauliers over British ones in their own country.

Foreign trucks set to flood Britain's roads as Brussels passes new law

European truck drivers are set to swarm on to Britain's roads because of new competition laws passed in Brussels. ... a new regulation, passed by the EU Parliament last month, will let European hauliers take on three more British jobs before returning home within a week.
This will rise to seven jobs by 2010, and by 2014 the new law will allow them unlimited access to UK markets – both in the number of jobs and the time it takes to do them.

As overseas hauliers use cheaper fuel and unregulated labour, particularly from Eastern Europe, British operators claim they will be unable to compete.

Experts believe that the move will cost the British economy an estimated £165million and cause hundreds of small hauliers to close.

This is another disaster on the horizon for Britain, as red tape and inept legislation destroy yet another industry in the UK - but it would appear that Brussels will not be satisfied until UK industry has been wiped off the map, in the same way that trans-national regions will wipe out the United Kingdom as a nation state.