IN THE NEWS
UK DRIVERS WARNED TO EXPECT FUEL DUTY RISE IN GOVERNMENT’S UPCOMING AUTUMN BUDGET
Drivers across the UK are being warned to expect a rise in fuel duty in the Autumn Budget to help fill a “£22 billion black hole” in public finances. It will be up to Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, to
retailers. In fact, the RAC suggests that average petrol prices should be reduced from 142p/litre to 136p/litre, and diesel prices from 147p/litre to
139p/litre. The explain how this will be
achieved, but an announcement on fuel duty is inevitable. In March 2022, the Conservatives imple- mented a 5p/litre reduction in fuel duty. Prior to this, the fuel duty rate had been frozen at 57.95p/litre since March 2011. Additionally, VAT is applied at 20% on top of the total price of fuel. The RAC is calling on retailers to cut fuel prices to reflect the current lower wholesale costs paid by the
company noted that retailers’ margins – the difference between the purchase price of fuel and the price at the pump – were recently 10p/litre for both fuels, compared to
the long-term average of
8p/litre. RAC head of policy,
Simon
Williams, said: “We think the Chancellor has no option but to put fuel duty back up to 58p/litre in October’s Budget. She knows the 5p discount is losing the Treasury £2bn a year. She also knows drivers
were overcharged by a staggering £1.6bn last year according to the Competition and Markets Authority’s recent report. “We’d normally be against any increase in duty, but we’ve long been saying drivers haven’t been benefitting from the current discount due to much higher- than-average retailer margins. “As more and more EVs come on to the roads, the Government will need to tax drivers differently. “We think replacing fuel duty with a pay-per-mile system as soon as possible is the way forward as then the only tax levied on fuel would be VAT. This wo uld give retailers nowhere to hide.”
LONDON PH OPERATOR GETS 11 YEARS OF SANCTIONS AFTER FALSELY CLAIMING TWO COVID LOANS
A private hire driver from Ilford in must abide by 11 years of tough bankruptcy restrictions after falsely claiming two Bounce Back Loans totalling £100,000 during covid. Hafiz Saeed Ahmad, 47, applied for two separate Bounce Back Loans for his delivery business, Sanwal Deliveries and Distribution, and for his private hire company, both based in East London. He became bankrupt in February 2024 and the official receiver dis- covered Ahmad had overstated the turnover of the two busiesses. The Deputy Official Receiver said: “Hafiz Ahmad abused tax-payers’ money not once, but twice, taking out two separate loans based on false information, claiming more money than his businesses were
58
entitled to receive. The investigation found that Ahmad had claimed £50,000 for his delivery business in July 2020– the maximum allowed under the scheme. He applied for a second £50,000 loan – this time for his taxi business – in September 2020. The official receiver also discovered that Ahmad had failed to use the loan money for the economic benefit of either of his trading businesses – a breach of the scheme’s conditions. The rules of the Bounce Back Loan scheme allowed businesses to claim up to 25% of their 2019 turnover, with a maximum loan of £50,000. The money had to be used for the economic benefit of the business.
The official receiver secured an 11- year Bankruptcy Restrictions Undertaking (BRU) from Ahmad, in which he did not dispute that he had obtained two £50,000 Bounce Back Loans by overstating their levels of turnover and that he had not used the loans for the economic benefit of his businesses. The undertaking extends his original bankruptcy restrictions from the standard 12 months until 19 August 2035. Bankruptcy restrictions ban Ahmad from acting as a company director without the court’s per- mission and from borrowing over £500 without declaring he is sub- ject to the restrictions. They also prevent him from holding certain roles in public organisations.
OCTOBER 2024 PHTM
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76
