The Federation of Small Businesses in Scotland has thrown its weight behind The Courier’s campaign to introduce a fuel duty regulator.
Backing our fight for fairer fuel, the national federation said the tax hike in April will hit all but a handful of small firms from tradesmen to pizza delivery drivers.
“The FSB fully supports The Courier,” confirmed a spokesman, adding that fuel prices could hamper small firms’ efforts to spearhead the country’s economic recovery.
“The cost of fuel affects virtually all the small business community,” said the spokesman.
“The self-employed, and those in trades especially, have to use private transport. The plumber can’t take his tools on the bus. The carpenter can’t get on the train with his saw. These are door-to-door jobs and that’s what people expect.”
Rising fuel costs hit even firms which do not directly rely on the use of vehicles, he went on.
“Obviously, every penny spent at the pumps is not being spent elsewhere,” he said. “Also, any goods or services need transporting and what businesses have seen over time is the rising cost of that.
“Couriers are at some stage forced to pass on those costs to clients. I think across Scotland everyone, from furniture movers right through to takeaway drivers and taxi drivers, will be affected.”Pressing the pointThe FSB had raised the issue with the Conservatives before the election and is continuing to press the case, he continued.
Stabilising fuel costs would allow firms to plan better for the future, he went on, particularly given the continuing constrained lending environment from the banks.
“Businesses no longer have access to the flexible, affordable finance they had in the past, which means cash is king once again,” he said.
Against that background, a new start-up or a business experiencing unforeseen problems perhaps because of customers’ late payments can be particularly vulnerable to price rises.
“We have had a choppy 2010 but we are trying to lead the recovery in 2011 and the cost of fuel could really make it much more difficult to do that,” he added.
The operator of one Dundee delivery firm has been forced by rising fuel prices to change the way he runs his business.
Ola Femi started up in 2005 and now has two vans carrying out deliveries across the UK. Mr Femi said he is forced to pass on the extra fuel costs to his customers.
So far, his clients have been understanding and accepted that the price rises are outwith his control. However, with no sign of fuel prices stabilising, he has already taken a step which he believed would cut his fuel costs to try to mitigate the effect on his clients.
“We have now stationed one of the vans in London and one up here,” he said. “That way, if we have deliveries to or from England the vans can meet in Glasgow and change over.”
Another Dundee van owner, John McDonald, said rising fuel prices are making it increasingly difficult for small concerns to compete with operations that are less concerned about the legal niceties of running a business.
He set up on his own only six months ago and said he was astonished at how much he was having to paying out in expenses.
“I am still making a crust but it is not as easy people think,” he said. “You are paying out all the time and people don’t understand that.”