Businesses call for help with 'impossible' fuel prices

Businesses and charities in the South have said the rising cost of fuel has left them fighting for survival and are calling on the Chancellor for help.

Earlier this month, the RAC said diesel prices in the UK had reached an all-time high, with the cost of petrol also rising.

People the BBC spoke to in Hampshire and Dorset said they were facing "tough choices" and urged John Healey to cut fuel duty in his first Budget on Wednesday.

A Treasury spokesperson said the Chancellor was "giving the high street more breathing space" by cutting business rates and limiting bill increases.

Meg Hunter, who runs an independent family florist in Winchester, delivering flowers all over the South, said the cost of fuel was "just ridiculous".

She said having a van was crucial to her business, because she could not afford to have a physical premises.

"We've absorbed it up to now, but our suppliers have started charging a higher fuel contribution, and we are going to have to start including that in our costs too," she said.

"You just have to look at the high streets, they are fading, it's all big chains and we can't survive. They just need to help us, it's impossible for us to keep going."

Diana Logan-Watts runs the MS centre in Dorset, which has five specially adapted minibuses to pick people up from their homes.

She said the cost of running them was now more than £2,000 more expensive than last year.

"If we didn't run the buses in this way then these people would have no way of getting here at all," she said.

"We've got to make some really tough choices and we don't like doing that, we certainly don't like passing our costs on to our members."

She called on the Chancellor to recognise that their work was "absolutely essential to communities".

"In an ideal world wouldn't it be wonderful if he could knock duty off fuel," she said.

"I think its really important that he acknowledges that this is happening, and that it is putting real pressure on charities and small and large businesses."

Antony Parsons runs his own painting and decorating business in Alton, Hampshire, but said he was considering "giving up".

"We price things three-to-six months in advance, and right now it's going up so quickly that the margins we had are not there anymore," he said.

"A lot of our guys travel so we are losing money whatever we do."

He said the Chancellor should reduce fuel duty and postpone the planned 5p rise due to come into force in January.

"I'm seriously thinking about giving up," he said, adding that he knew other people who felt the same.

"It's just not worth it, I'm not making any money out of it anymore and it's just going up and up and up and we can't price it high enough," he said.

A Treasury spokesperson said: "The Chancellor is giving the high street more breathing space, cutting business rates by 20% for pubs, social clubs and live music venues.

"This is alongside £4.3 billion to limit bill rises, funded by a higher tax rate for big online warehouses, and capping corporation tax.

"As has always been the case, decisions on tax are a matter for the Chancellor to set out at fiscal events, rather than routinely commenting on rumour, speculation or proposals."

John Healey also previously told BBC Radio 5 Live: "I'm acutely concerned and conscious about how hard it is for families. I see that at the pumps myself."