I’ve written about lorry driver urban legends before, but they just keep cropping up all over the internet I’m not sure quite why lorry drivers and their vehicles often seem to be at the centre of these kinds of stories – my theory is that it’s the lorry drivers themselves who spread them while running haulage jobs and return loads all over the world

If you read any lorry-centric news sites at the moment, you’ll be aware that times are not exactly good Fuel prices are higher than ever, there are taxes to enter major city centres and to top it all off the whole world is suffering from an economic downturn

With the price of fuel rising dramatically, the haulage industry faces some of its toughest years in recent memory Owner operators and haulage companies are looking for ways to keep their businesses afloat as running costs rise and the economy weakens

The rising price of fuel has already caused many woes for owner operators and haulage companies in recent months Protests have been held by lorry drivers around the world, worried about the effect that the spiralling cost of diesel is having on their businesses

So, we all know that the price of haulage fuel in the UK is ridiculous at the moment, with lorry fuel costing 50p per litre in the UK as compared to 25p per litre in mainland Europe It really is a rip off bleeding us dry

Those of us who work in haulage companies sometimes wonder what we’ve done to deserve such a villainous portrayal in the film world Especially in B movies and horror films, it seems that every time someone runs into trouble on a deserted highway, the bad guy inevitably turns out to be a lorry driver… The Driver, ‘Duel’ (1971) The lead character in this movie (Steven Spielberg’s debut film as a director) makes the foolish mistake of aggressively overtaking a tanker truck on a deserted mountain road

Perhaps it’s because of their no-nonsense attitude, or maybe it is just because there are so many of them on the road, but when they aren’t busy working on various haulage jobs many lorry drivers seem to moonlight as have-a-go heroes Whenever a member of the public is hailed as a hero for rescuing those in danger, more often than not it turns out to be a lorry driver, or so it seems, and in the best stories, the lorry plays as big a part as the driver in the rescue

So, the Low Emission Zone has now been in effect for three months and fuel prices are continuing to rise The freight industry is most certainly in crisis – as shown last month, when one haulage company presented a coffin representing the bankruptcy of many smaller firms and the loss of road haulage jobs to parliament

I read a fairly alarming survey earlier this week – it estimated that 33% of haulage companies would go out of business over the upcoming year I can’t think of any other industry facing this kind of crisis, and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t concern me

With skyrocketing fuel prices, LEZ, long working hours and congestion charging conspiring to make the poor old lorry drivers’ lives a costly misery, Lyall Cresswell of Haulage Exchange takes a look back in time to see if lorry driving was better in the old days… Text body: Currently, there is a feeling of real doom and gloom hanging over the logistics industry