Last week’s fuel protest in central London is only the tip of the iceberg on the effect the government’s crippling rise in fuel charges is having on this country.

It is only when you stop to think about the implications on businesses as a whole that you realise just how problematic this situation is.

Pushing aside the personal cost of travelling to each employee ­ and the eye-watering amount it costs to fill up your car each week ­ there is the growing impact on businesses of all sizes.

In the channel, the obvious victim would be distribution, which is being hit by rising diesel costs, but still has to fulfil its deliveries without hitting customers too hard in the pocket. Drilling down even further, we are hearing stories of how resellers are now being forced to rein in their engineers from carrying out onsite visits, because the cost of driving there is becoming unmanageable.

Customers who notice their quality of service being affected will start to look elsewhere ­ if an engineer cannot get to their office to fix a problem, the reseller is not fulfilling its side of the service contract. However, if charges are increased to compensate, which would be the obvious solution, the customer will also start looking around for a more competitive price. There is always someone willing to undercut rivals in the market. So more resellers are being forced to play a dangerous balancing game to try and keep on top of the costs.

With the average price of unleaded petrol at £1.15 per litre, but predicted to rise to £1.25 over the next few months, and diesel standing at between £1.25 and £1.30 per litre, things are only going to get worse unless the industry adds its voice to that of the haulage industry and campaigns for a complete change
in government attitude to this situation.

Sara Yirrell is editor of CRN ­ sara.yirrell@incisivemedia.com