OFFHIRE
Rental Rate Roy always eats his greens, but he’s finding more holes in the Chancellor’s plans for Red Diesel than a slice of Swiss Cheese…
ILL THOUGHT THROUGH OR CABBAGE GREEN?
R
eaders of my inane witterings in this magazine will now have realised that I’m not the sharpest tool in the
box. In fact, when I was younger I thought manual labour was a Spanish waiter!
However, to coin a phrase from my Ol’ Grandmammy, “I’m not as green as I am cabbage looking”.
My thoughts in this issue are aimed at the impending removal of the sale of red diesel by that lovely bloke in number 11 Downing Street. It is being portrayed as a meaningful act to encourage the use of greener technologies in the construction sector. A most impressively magnanimous gesture toward the planet which we can only assume will mean he is aiming for elevation to the House of Lords in the near future. However, this brilliant act does have a tiny fly in the whole masterplan’s ointment.
You see, the E.T. (emerging technology) is not quite ready…. I’m sure you will have seen the deliciously ironic YouTube video of a UK construction site using a JCB electric excavator, which is then being recharged off – wait for it – a 22kVA generator! I’ll just let that sink in a little.
It is all well and good, our political masters having these Ill-thought-through and hare-brained schemes, but they don’t take into consideration the following factors:
1) Red diesel will need to be replaced by white diesel, which will…
a. Increase the price paid by the hirer. b. Which in turn will subsequently increase inflation.
c. Mean that the more nefarious members of the community who fail to hold a moral compass will quickly realise that the same ‘go-juice’ in a site dumper, telehandler or excavator will work extremely well in their knackered out Ford Fiesta. We will surely see a tsunami of fuel thefts from
construction plant up and down the land, along with equipment damage whilst endeavouring to gain access to the prized fuel.
d. This will result in more insurance claims, which will in turn increase premiums and thus add extra burden to inflation again.
2) Battery technology is not yet developed sufficiently enough to provide a meaningful shift for a jobbing builder or major contractor. What good is a digger running flat half way through a shift when it needs eight-hours to recharge? And what if it is a green or brownfield site with no utilities!?
3) Alternatives such as hydrogen, which are currently under development by manufacturers such as JCB, are just that – UNDER DEVELOPMENT. They are not yet ready for market, and neither is the infrastructure to provide the hydrogen in the kind of quantities needed.
So, the truth of the matter is that the man in charge of the almost exhausted Government funds wants us to pay more in tax because he has a huge black hole in his coffers, but hasn’t thought through the logistics or ramifications of this move.
So, the question is this – why can a plantman with the intellect of a chimp see more holes in the Chancellor’s plan than that of a piece of Swiss Cheese? Surely, a logical half-way house would be to dramatically reduce the tax break on red diesel, thus helping to soften the blow to the construction and allied industries, but allowing time for technology and infrastructure to be in place for its inevitable demise?
Anyone for Cabbage?
44 Executive Hire News - September 2021
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