Labour is to force a Commons vote on Monday that it hopes will lead to the postponement of a planned 3p per litre rise in fuel duty in January.

The Treasury said the postponement of earlier planned duty rises had already helped keep fuel costs down.

Writing on the PoliticsHome website, Mr Balls argued that a strong economic recovery was not yet secure and families and fleet businesses were still feeling the squeeze as well as the price of fuel affecting the economy.

Postponing the planned 3p rise until at least April could be paid for, he believes, by clamping down on tax avoidance schemes used by employment agencies.

The Government needs to act and clamp down on those avoiding paying their fair share of tax”

“There is a growing problem with some employment agencies forcing workers to become employees of an umbrella company,” he wrote.

“They then falsely inflate the worker’s travel and food expense claims, reducing tax and national insurance, and pocket the avoided tax as profits.

According to Mr Balls, “Even if only a proportion of that money was recouped it could pay for the fuel duty rise to be put off until next spring.”

Labour will use one of its allotted opposition day debates in the Commons to force the vote, which is non-binding.

Pressure group the Taxpayers’ Alliance launched a campaign earlier this year to have fuel duties frozen until 2015.

Another campaign group, FairFuelUK, claims that allowing the 3p tax rise to go ahead in January could lead to 35,000 job losses, and hit economic growth.

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At a meeting with chief secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander on Monday, they discussed the impact of fuel duty on the economy. There the FTA presented the findings of studies carried  out by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research.

The talks, held at HM Treasury were agreed as a result of discussions between FTA backed petrol and diesel campaign group FairFuelUK were seen as a ‘promising start’ to future discussions with a further planned meeting expected in the next few weeks.

The meeting purposely took place before the Government’s planned 3p per litre fuel duty hike, which is scheduled for 1 January 2013. Critical analysis undertaken by FairFuelUK on the impact of fuel duty on UK growth and the economy formed the centrepiece of the discussions.

FairFuelUK is supported by more than a quarter of a million members of the public and was created by road hauliers and motoring organisations as a result of rising fuel costs which have a devastating impact on haulage businesses, their customers and ultimately everyone through the prices on the shelves.

Quentin Willson, national spokesman for FairFuelUK, said; “This is an enormously positive gesture from the Treasury for FairFuelUK to present their ground-breaking research on the impact raising fuel duty has on the UK economy. The fact that Treasury figures are interested and listening sends an important message to all the business and families out there deeply anxious about the forthcoming 3p rise in January. This sort of open-minded engagement is exactly what this country needs to see.”

James Hookham, FTA Managing Director – Communications and Policy, said: “FTA believes that the reductions in fuel duty are the key to un-locking economic growth and we are determined to enlighten the Treasury as to how that can be done.”

The results of the recent study include the identification of the impact of fuel duty on UK growth and the economy, and follows earlier research which was carried out by the Centre of Economic and Business Research.

Hookham added: “It is important that the Treasury understands the reasoning behind the reports both the FTA & RHA have commissioned, and takes the opportunity to act upon them in the autumn statement.”

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It costs between £500 and £3,000 to fix a car  and only half of owners can claim the cost back on their insurance.

Industry experts believe the rising number of people switching to more economical diesel cars is to blame for the increasingly common mistake.

Rory Carlin from Halfords Autocentres,  which compiled the figures, said: ‘We saw a noticeable increase in mis-fuelling during  March and September – the peak months for  new-car purchase – which could be attributed  to new owners getting mixed up about Petrol and Diesel.

The AA runs a service for this kind of mistake in which they clean out fuel tanks of cars and get them running again. This service can cost upwards of £300 a time.

In May a bungling tanker driver left dozens of motorists stranded and caused thousands of pounds worth of damage to their cars after accidentally putting diesel into an unleaded storage tank.

The driver caused around £14,000 worth of damage after the mix-up at a Sainsbury’s petrol station forecourt in Salford, Manchester.

A total of 44 cars were affected – and owners faced bills of hundreds of pounds to get their engines fixed.

Bosses at the Regent Road store in Salford closed the pumps when they discovered the mix-up. By then, reports were coming in of cars conking-out on the streets.

Sainsbury’s apologised and agreed to cover the cost of repairs to the vehicles.

In Other News,Business are cutting spending on fleet fuel as prices continue to rise

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Now that the Government are putting information on Whitehall spending and procurement contracts on the internet to increase transparency, Mr Halfon said the same should be done for fuel duty.

According to FairFuelUK, out of a petrol or diesel fill up of £85, nearly £50 goes straight to the Treasury as tax.

Kate Gibbs, a spokesperson for Road Haulage Association said, “This initiative will serve as a real wake up call to all users of road fuels; petrol or diesel.”

FairFuelUK was central to a campaign that successfully deferred a 3p fuel duty increase from August to January 2013. However, it is now hoping to squash the increase all together and claims if it were to go ahead, the tax take per fuel purchase would become 59.32 percent.

“Filling the tank, regardless of size, has always been costly. If the cost of the fuel duty and the VAT is clearly shown on the receipt, it will make users far more aware of just where their money is going,”

“The price of fuel has become a wide reaching political issue; it affects everyone. If this move for transparency goes ahead, fuel pricing has the potential to become a real vote winner, or indeed vote loser”, continued Gibbs.

This is a move that could benefit the economy in general and the road haulage sector in particular as customers will see that they are getting the best possible rate for the job.

Mr Halfon’s campaign is backed by FairFuelUK, which has gathered more than 15,000 signatures on a petition.

Earlier this year, Chancellor George Osborne delayed a planned 3p rise in fuel duty from August 1st to January 1st next year following campaigns against it.

In other news,  Is your fleet fuel bill giving you nightmares?

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Admiral Motor Insurance surveyed more than 3000 drivers this summer as part of its annual Survey of Motorists, and the results, announced today, revealed the British public thinks that they are being ripped off by the government. A further 42 per cent saying they would consider protesting publically about the cost of fuel.

More than 70 per cent even agreed they believe the Government is trying to price motorists off the road with duty and VAT.

Oil companies also came under fire from the public as 41 per cent blamed them for the cost of their fuel, while 25 per cent went for world affairs out of their control, and 20 per cent for petrol retailers.

Sue Longthorn, Admiral managing director, said: “The cost of fuel is certainly having an impact on the motoring public as over half have reduced the amount of driving they do due to the cost of fuel while two fifths have had to cut back on essential spending in order to be able to afford fuel.

“I’m sure no one wants to see a repeat of the scenes in recent years of petrol stations running dry and enormous queues,” she added.

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Work is underway to open up the hard shoulder on the M4 and M5 near the Almondsbury Interchange.

A Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents spokesman said the “excessive speeding” was “ludicrous”.

A spokesperson said, “These drivers are not only risking their own lives, they are risking the lives of other road users and the people who work in the road.

A Highways Agency spokesman said safety was its “top priority”.

“Road workers work in a dangerous environment, only feet away from moving traffic, and deserve respect and consideration from drivers, Driving through a mile of road works at 40mph takes less than 40 seconds longer than it does at 70mph but that difference can save lives.”

Between April and September, some 14,000 motorists were caught speeding by the average speed limit cameras – one driver was clocked doing 137mph.

The figures also revealed more than £168,000 has been paid in speeding fines, and that this figure was set to increase.

Police in Avon and Somerset said they were still dealing with a backlog of cases from the speed cameras.

They said, “Not all of the drivers have been identified or…court processes are still in progress if drivers have elected a court hearing rather than accept a fixed penalty notice or attend a speed education course”.

Average speed cameras record vehicle speeds by registering the time a car, lorry or motorbike takes to cover a fixed distance from which the speed can be calculated.

The system uses number plate recognition cameras to identify individual vehicles.

Some of the top speeds recorded were

137 mph – 11 August

135 mph – 11 August

131 mph – 6 June

126 mph – 16 September

125 mph – 8 July

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The event is being co-ordinated by the Chief Fire Officers Association (CFOA), and takes place on Friday, July 6, from 10am until 4pm.

Staff from more than 40 fire and rescue services from across the country will be involved on the day, and will be placed at strategic locations in their own service areas all over the country to deliver succinct road safety messages.

These locations will involve motorway service stations, larger petrol station sites on dual and A roads, city and town centres, including major retail parks and supermarkets over the country – anywhere where there is the opportunity for firefighters to engage with the driving public.

Martin Dowle, community safety manager for the Fire and Rescue Service, said: “A highly visible road safety presence will take place across the country on this day to highlight the dangers drivers face on our major roads and motorways.

“Our unique brand and ability to engage with all groups and ages in our society places us in an enviable position where we can make a difference by working with others with the same aims of creating a safer society.

“This multi-agency approach will demonstrate regional partnership working at a national level.”

To find out which Fire Services are involved and where they will be Click Here

In other News, How Fleet drivers can be safer behind the wheel on long journeys.

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Fuel duty was due to rise by 3p a litre in August. Hauliers and motoring associations had called on Osborne to cancel the hike in his budget earlier this year.

At the time the Chancellor insisted the hike would go ahead, so his U-turn on Tuesday is yet another plank of the Budget to be reversed. It follows policy reversals on the Pasty Tax and the Charity Tax.

The government says its series of freezes on fuel duty mean that petrol is 10p cheaper than it would have been if all the rises had been introduced.

The Treasury said the U-turn was triggered by the deteriorating economic situation and said senior ministers had been considering the move for some time.

They rejected claims that the move was in response to calls from Labour’s Ed Balls earlier on Tuesday, who said the £500m underspend at the Olympics should be chaneled into a petrol tax cut.

Speaking in the Commons shortly after the announcement Balls told MPs: “We’ve now had U-turns on pasties, churches, caravans, skips, and today a U-turn on fuel, which we welcome.

“It would be interesting to know at what point the decision was made and if the transport secretary was told,” Balls went on, calling on the chancellor to perform further U-turns on tax breaks for millionaires and the so-called Granny Tax.

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