The government came in for some swingeing criticism at last week’s annual conference of the Freight Transport Association (FTA). Describing the government’s policies as “hostile and unhelpful”, FTA president Lawrence Christensen said that nothing positive had come of the government’s transport white paper, and the industry was struggling under the combined pressure of high taxation and debilitating policies. The FTA also predicted that the government’s policy of increasing the duty on diesel fuel will cost 53,000 jobs in the UK by 2002, with 26,000 of them in the haulage industry. “The government has no stomach to make Europe stop renegade drivers blockading the main routes in France… but it allows the new directive on working time that will make it more difficult for all of us to use vehicles at night,” said a spokesperson.