Interesting thread (I wondered why this was not bought up in Motors so I ventured out for a bit & found this!)
Makes me laugh a bit, this bleating (rightly) about fuel prices, in my experience of trucking, I'd imagine if transport companies realised that if they employed "Trafic Planners" who could read a map & have a rough idea of the distance between Stoke & Lincoln for example, they would not find trucks criss crossing each other vainly chasing a load that's already been collected by joe on the Night shift, trouble is Night Shift forgot to tell the day shift.....
In other words, if Logistics companies got their act together a bit better & organised a bit better, they would imo find themselves in a far better position to try to off set the extra fuel costs by more efficient utilisation of vehicles by better planning etc.
Alas, the above is simply common sence, companies won't pay a decent wage for a driver to come off the road (circa £28k) to become a traffic planner (Circa £16k) and suffer the concequences of cluless muppets directing vehicles with average consumption figures of 7mpg all over the place.
Common sence & logistics are poor bed fellows it appears.
As a trucker I appreciate the support, but, given my perspective, I often think what little thats left of the UK Transport industry only has itself to blame for its current predicament.